The Avenger: The Promise
by Element-Chaos
Summary: Sasuke is killed by Haku on the unfinished bridge in Wave country but makes Naruto swear to fulfill Sasuke's only purpose in life... kill Uchiha Itachi and Naruto accepts the task. Full Summary inside. Dark, Strong, Smart, Bloodline Naruto... Pairings?
1. Chapter 1

**Brief Summary:**

What would happen if Haku had hardened his heart as he threw that final volley of Senbon at Naruto and Sasuke? After several Senbon strikes fatal places on Sasuke's body the sole surviving Uchiha dies on his first real mission. Naruto stricken by grief finds a power within and then events unfold differently. Stay with Naruto as he struggles through new hardships in life and tries to honor his Ninja way, never going back on his word…

"_D-dobe…k-kill the man…w-who k-killed my entire cl-clan… kill my b-brother U-Uchiha Itachi…" Sasuke said with his few last breaths of life._

"_Damn you Teme!" Naruto screamed as tears rolled down his face. "I will. I will kill Uchiha Itachi, I swear it on my Ninja way." Naruto said and Sasuke took one last breath and nodded._

"_Thank- you."_


	2. Chapter 2: Birth of the 2nd Avenger!

Chapter 1: Birth of the 2nd Avenger

_**-The Event that started it all-**_

Naruto threw his arm up in front of his face preparing for the worse. His opponent had just thrown a volley of Senbon at him and Sasuke and he no longer had the ability to move. Naruto clenched his eyes shut and prepared for the worse but it never came. Instead he heard the sound of a body thudding against the ground heavily and then a low grunt before he slowly brought his arm down. His gaze traveled down and he found one Uchiha Sasuke littered with Senbon.

Naruto took in a strangled breath as time seemed to slow down. He collapsed to his knees and he could already feel the tears forming in his eyes, threatening to spill over. Sasuke was breathing raggedly and he looked up at Naruto who was showing a mixture of emotions… anger, sadness, regret, but most of all he felt as though a bond had been ripped in half.

"Why? Why did you do it?" Naruto asked in a voice barely above a whisper. He completely took his focus off of the enemy he was facing.

"I don't… k-know, my b-body just moved…" Sasuke gasped and Naruto clenched his fists.

"I'm the dead last… I should be dying!" Naruto cried in anguish and Sasuke couched up a bit of blood before his red eyes spiraled slowly and he began to lose focus.

"Y-yeah… I know." Sasuke grunted and Naruto began to shake with anger and grief. Sasuke's breaths began to sound more strangled now.

"D-dobe…k-kill the man…w-who k-killed my entire cl-clan… kill my b-brother U-Uchiha Itachi…" Sasuke said with his few last breaths of life.

"Damn you Teme!" Naruto screamed as tears rolled down his face. "I will. I will kill Uchiha Itachi, I swear it on my Ninja way." Naruto said and Sasuke took one last breath and nodded.

"Thank- you." Naruto muttered when all of a sudden a cold feeling washed over him. As his entire body went numb his eyes began to get warm and he felt a weird sensation before he suddenly saw things with a weird new perspective. He looked down at Sasuke whose eyes were now back to an unfocused onyx. On Sasuke's face was a look of complete shock.

"S-sharingan!" He said and then his eyes completely hazed over.

"Rest in peace… Teammate." Naruto whispered as he shut Sasuke's lifeless eyes with his pointer and middle finger on his left hand. He didn't bother to wipe away his tears for they should his loss of a close friend.

Is this the first time you have seen death?" came to calm yet cold voice of his enemy. The voice seemed to echo within the ice mirrors and Naruto snarled lowly as he turned and found a single image of the masked Hunter-nin looking at him. "It is common in the ninja world but fear not…you will be joining him soon." The masked person said and suddenly their image multiplied by 11 until Naruto was surrounded by Ice mirrors that captured the same image of the enemy.

"I'm going to kill you…" Naruto said as his new vision picked up the smallest details in the mirrors. He saw that one of the mirrors had a small crack in the middle of it that would have been impossible to see in the midst of battle but sicne the Hunter-nin had given him time to get his bearings straight he found it. "For…what…you…**DID!**"Naruto screamed as a blast of red chakra sent a sudden gust of raging wind sweeping across the bridge.

The Hunter-nin shivered from the killing intent that began to leak from the blond in front of him. The boy he was facing earlier was different; maybe it was a mistake to kill his teammate after all. The masked ninja prepared for another attack on the blond when he was froze by actions that began to take place.

Naruto was enveloped by a small whirlwind of chakra that had a faint red tinge to it. As the Hunter-nin watched his whisker marks became darker and bolder, his hair became more rigid and his canines and nails elongated becoming sharper. The ninja could only watch in fearful amazement as all of the boy's wounds began to heal slowly.

"What are you?" the masked ninja asked with fear underlying his voice.

Naruto in turn snarled and dashed at the mirror that the hunter-nin was in. _How does he know?_ The ninja thought to himself as he peeled out of the mirror and tossed a handful of Senbon at Naruto who swatted them all away. The boy flew past the ninja and time slowed as the masked ninja saw Naruto's eyes.

_Impossible… there the same eyes that boy had! _The hunter-nin thought but that was quickly interrupted as the boy he thought he had dodged grabbed the collar of his battle robes and in one quick action slammed him down into the bridge floor. The ninja bounced slightly but Naruto snarled as he came down with his amazing new strength and slammed a open clawed hand into the hunter-nins stomach leaving five deep gouges that began to bleed.

"**DIE!" **Naruto screamed in a crazed state and grabbed the ninja's neck and spun on his heel lifting the enemy off his back and into the air. Naruto aimed for the mirror that was slightly cracked and he plowed the ninja's masked face into it. He grinned with a look of feral bloodlust as the mirror shattered and the ninja bounced on the cold wet concrete for a few feet before coming to a stop.

Naruto dashed at the ninja who was getting to their feet and before Naruto could slam his fist, which was ready to finish the fight, into the ninja's face the mask that he wore cracked. Naruto's fist was inches away from the boy he had met earlier that week's face.

**-Events at a present time-**

"What are you waiting for…?" the boy asked and Naruto snarled.

"**Why? Why did you ki**ll him?" the last part of the question came out as a sob.

"He was in the way of my master's goal…" the boy said and suddenly he perked up. "My master is in trouble… I shall not let him die!" the boy almost screamed and made a motion to run but Naruto's cold hard voice and clawed hand stopped him.

"**NO!" **The blonde screamed and grabbed the boy in mid flight around the neck. In one quick motion he slammed the boy down into the bridge with all of his strength. The boy's head bucked as it smashed against the bridge and his neck broke from the force of the slam; killing the boy immediately. Naruto stayed crouched, panting heavily as he stared at what he did.

_Oh my god… he's dead! Oh my god! _Naruto thought as he fell onto his ass and stared at the pool of blood slowly spreading form the back of the boys head. _Sensei….Sakura…Iruka…Jiji….someone help me! _Naruto screamed only it was within his mind. No one answered though.

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Kakashi removed his bloody hand from the chest of the now dead Zabuza. He sighed as he dismissed his dog summons and the mist began to clear. He flicked his hand off which managed to clean of a majority of the blood but there was still some on his clothes that would have to be washed off. As he was thinking about this his thoughts suddenly went to his students. _Sasuke and Naruto!_ The man thought and he turned on his heel as the mist finally disappeared completely.

He began to run towards them at a slow pace until he finally made out all of the images in front of himself. _There's Sakura and Tazuna…_ Kakashi thought and he drew up close with them. "Sakura you did a good job on protecting the client." Kakashis aid and Sakura nodded slowly.

"Kakashi-sensei… where's Sasuke-kun and Naruto?" she asked in a whisper. "Are they all right? I felt that chakra and then…" Sakura said and wiped away a tear.

"Come on, I hope they are fine." Kakashi said and took off down the bridge. As he ran a series of events ran through his head and he didn't like them, he felt a deep sense of foreboding about to happen. The thing that sucked for Hatake Kakashi is that it did.

"SASUKE-KUN!" Sakura screamed as she saw the laid out form of her crush on the bridge. She didn't see the form of Naruto rocking back and forth near another form at all, neither did Kakashi, not yet anyways.

"Oh no…" Kakashi said horrified as he drew closer. "Sakura… stand back." He muttered and kneeled down by his student. He prayed for the best but he already knew the answer. He reached out with his left hand and put two fingers on Sasuke's neck and enhanced his feeling with chakra just in case the boy was in a false death trance. "Why… why did this happen?" Kakashi whispered and looked at Sakura. "I'm sorry." He said and Sakura bent over crying.

"Sasuke-kun, n-no! W-why did you l-leave me!" Sakura cried and tears rolled down her face as sobs racked her body. Sakura looked up at her sensei and spoke but it took her awhile to get the entire sentence out. "What…a-a-about…N-n-naruto? W-wh-where is h-he?" she asked and Kakashi was about to answer when his gaze traveled up and he saw the form of Naruto curled up in a ball on his side.

"No… Sakura stay here." He ordered and Sakura sensed which way Kakashi was looking and she turned and saw Naruto hunched up and shaking. Next to him was another body.

Kakashi got up and sprinted over to the blond who was in shock and sobbing almost as bad as Sakura. "Naruto, shit! NARUTO!" Kakashi screamed trying to get the boy's attention but to no avail. _This isn't good, he's in shock! _Kakashi thought in horror and looked down to see the expanding pool of blood coming from Zabuza's partner. The boy was no doubt dead from what looked like fractures to his skull, gouges in his neck which was also broken, and also deep wounds to the stomach.

_This isn't good… I have to call for back up NOW! _Kakashi thought within his mind and ran through a quick series of hand seals faster than he had ever before.

"**Kuichiyose no Jutsu!"**

A cloud of smoke appeared at Kakashi's feet and when it disappeared, a small dog that was pitch black with a pair of white sunglasses was crouching in front of him.

"What you need master Kakashi?" the dog asked and Kakashi quickly pulled out a scroll and a pen and wrote down a message…

_Hokage-sama,_

_Dire emergency, send immediate help to Wave country at once! I will brief you when I arrive in Konoha but send at least 2 teams! IMMEDIATELY!_

_Hatake Kakashi_

That was all he wrote but it was enough for the Hokage to know he was serious. He rolled the scroll up and threw it to the dog that caught it in his mouth and nodded and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Kakashi turned back to Naruto with a sad look on his face and he cursed his fate. _I'm sorry Sensei…and Obito I've let both of you down. _Kakashi thought as he picked Naruto up in his arms and carried him over to where Sasuke was.

"It'll be all right Naruto." He whispered and set the blond down next to Sakura. "Sakura… speak to him, try to cheer him up." Kakashi ordered and Sakura stared at him.

"B-but what about…Sasuke?" she asked as a fresh wave of tears poured down her face.

"Sakura look at me!" Kakashi ordered as he crouched down in fornt of her. "You and Naruto have both lost a team mate in the field but Naruto has also made his first kill… the emotional stress has set him over the edge and he needs to be calmed before he goes from shock or goes insane." Kakashi explained quickly and Sakura nodded sadly.

"Naruto…" she began to whisper to him as she continued to hiccup from crying.

Kakashi turned to Sasuke's still form and slowly picked him up. _I have to make sure that I don't disturb anything to make sure that he can be analyzed… _ Kakashi thought sadly as he stared at the cold body of his former student.

888888

It took a few hours but suddenly there were a few black blurs and six Leaf ninja landed in front of Kakashi on high alert waiting for an ambush of some kind. Kakashi looked over the group that consisted of Team 10, Iruka, and surprisingly Anko. They all looked at questiongly since no one was in their immediate sight. Kakashi had already brought what remained of his team and Sasuke back to Tazuna's house and had sealed both missing-nins into two scrolls.

"What's the meaning of this Kakashi?" Asuma demanded and Kakashi sighed knowing that the circumstances just got worse.

"No offense Asuma but I wish Hokage-sama hadn't sent you…" Kakashi said and looked at the Genin that stood awkwardly behind their sensei. They were all gazing about with amazed expressions on their face.

"Kakashi, what happened?" Demanded Iruka and Kakashi looked at him sadly and shook his head.

"Come I'll explain everything at the house, it's dangerous out here." Kakashi said and led the way to the hosue.

888888

As soon as they arrived Kakashi immediately sat them all down in the living room while Tazuna, Inari, and Tsunami all went into a different room after they had heard what had happened. Kakashi looked at everyone sadly and began to speak.

"Team 7 was assigned a C-ranked escort mission and we happily took it so we could experience a change for once. On our way to Wave country we were attacked by the Demon brothers and we found out that our client was a target of Gato… we decided to stay on the mission though and continued on until we ran into Momoichi Zabuza. After a brief encounter I was rendered uncounscious but we all managed to escape. Today the bridge was attacked and I wish I could go into detail but all I can say is… I killed Zabuza." Kakashi said and everyone looked at with apprehensive looks on their faces.

"So that's why you called us here? Really?" Ino asked snorting but Kakashi's sad look made her freeze.

"Sasuke was attacked by Zabuza's partner and NAruto jumped in… I'm not sure what exactly happened but…" Kakashi trailed off and turned away from the crowd and his shoulders rose once.

"Kakashi…" Asuma muttered already knowing the information that was about to be said. The Jonin got to his feet and walked over to the silver haired ninja and put a hand on his shoulder. "You don't need to go on if you don't want to." He said but Kakashi shook his head.

"No, I have to." H said and he turned and everyone saw the tears coming from his exposed left eye. "Zabuza's partner killed…Uchiha Sauske and in the process Naruto…was devasted most likely but he killed the ninja… he has gone into one of the worse cases of shock I have ever seen and he won't come to now…" Kakashi spoke these words and everyone became deathly silent.

The normally lazy and bored Shikimaru was staring at the wall with emotions that were new to him. He never thought this would happen to people in his class before but now that it had he felt devastated. Ino was staring at Kakashi as tears began to leak down her face slowly. Chouji had a chip in his hand but it was crushed due to the sorrow he was now feeling. Iruka was gone, already up the stairs to find his former students. Anko was sitting back not knowing what to do since she didn't know the kids.

"Kakashi…" Asuma muttered and Kakashi began walking upstairs.

"He's in here." Kakashi said as he stopped in front of a room and pointed to the now open door. In the room were two beds, on one laid the still form of Sasuke Uchiha on the other was Naruto in a pair of his black shorts and everyone could see the chills that were shaking his body. He was muttering words no one could comprehend and Anko realized that the kid was in bad shape. In between both boys was a pink haired Sakura who was no longer crying because she had to more tears to cry.

"Sakura…" Ino wept and ran into the room and embraced her friend. "I'm so sorry!" she sobbed into her friends shoulder and began to sob dryly.

"Ino…he's gone…" Sakura muttered and Ino held her tighter.

Kakashi stepped out of the room and Asuma followed him. Iruka was already in the room at Naruto's side along with Shikimaru and Chouji since the three were okay friends back at the academy.

"Kakashi… we have to go now…" Asuma said and Kakashi nodded.

"All right… I'll carry-"he began but that was as far as he got before suddenly a scream came from downstairs. Kakashi reacted immediately and disappeared in a swirl of leaves. When he reappeared he was holding a sword by the middle of the blade. The sword was aimed at Tsunami who had left her room to get some water and she had seen that Gato was here for his revenge.

"Asuma, take action quick!" Kakashi screamed.

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Naruto was lost in a sea of darkness and he was being tossed head over heels. Water was pouring into his mouth and he was drowning and felt the pain of not being able to breathe in his lungs. The only thing was that he was breathing and he could feel that. He couldn't see at all and he was screaming out for something to save him but he couldn't find anything. He had been in this place for years it felt like. He could hear the faint sounds of people's voices around him but he couldn't make them out. He didn't feel himself get picked up or moved, nothing was registering with him.

"Hello… someone helps me?" he asked in a child like tone. He saw the darkness in front of him surge and the dead face of Sasuke appeared in front of him. His eyes were empty, his skin white like paper, but his lips were moving and making a whisper of a sound.

"_D-dobe…k-kill the man…w-who k-killed my entire cl-clan… kill my b-brother U-Uchiha Itachi…" _

"_D-dobe…k-kill the man…w-who k-killed my entire cl-clan… kill my b-brother U-Uchiha Itachi…" _

"_D-dobe…k-kill the man…w-who k-killed my entire cl-clan… kill my b-brother U-Uchiha Itachi…" _

"_D-dobe…k-kill the man…w-who k-killed my entire cl-clan… kill my b-brother U-Uchiha Itachi…" _

"_D-dobe…k-kill the man…w-who k-killed my entire cl-clan… kill my b-brother U-Uchiha Itachi…" _

Naruto covered his eyes but it didn't help because Sasuke's face melted and turned into the dead face of the boy he had killed and his lips were moving now.

"_Why did you kill me? Why? WHY? WHY DID YOU KILL ME?"_

"_Why did you kill me? Why? WHY? WHY DID YOU KILL ME?"_

"_Why did you kill me? Why? WHY? WHY DID YOU KILL ME?"_

Naruto screamed again and as the face melted again it was replaced with a image that made Naruto freeze, his cries stuck in his throat. In front of him was the image of a fox that was roaring and destroying Konoha. He could only watch as fires rose and destroyed buildings. Images of people he knew appeared in front of him and they slowly burned away as their silent screams went unheard.

"**You fool, as thought you could stop me from exposing your true identity! You're a demon like me! You are the Kyuubi no Kitsune and you killed so many!" **

The voice sounded so real and Naruto shivered and then cringed as the face of Iruka appeared in front of him now. He sobbed wishing for the torture to stop and then suddenly he saw Iruka protectively bent over him on the night that Mizuki betrayed the village. Only Iruka was saying the kind words he said back then…

"_Why Demon, why did you kill my parents and now me? Why couldn't you just die and then we would all be happy?"_

Naruto clawed at his eyes but suddenly he couldn't find his face and his hands disappeared until suddenly he found himself standing in a empty street. He walked slowly and he tried to recognize where he was until he looked up and found himself gazing at the Hokage Monument. He looked around and saw a figure clad in black running down the street killing people left and right suddenly.

"What's going on?" his voice echoed for no one to here. Naruto could in watch in horror as families, kids, mothers, anyone was cut down where they stood and then suddenly Naruto found himself in an empty room with the killer and two dead bodies. The killer looked oddly like Sasuke in a way and Naruto thought about it before he was interrupted.

"Mom! Dad! Where are you?" the cry came from a kid and Naruto placed the voice immediately.

"Sasuke." He whispered and watched as the boy opened the door to the room and found his parent's dead.

"Big brother what happened?" Sasuke asked in horror and before Naruto could hear anymore the vision warped and Naruto was engulfed into darkness again.

"**It seems you unlocked your bloodline finally… pitiful human…"**

The voice came again and Naruto looked around trying to find something but found only dark emptiness.

"Who's there?" he asked fearfully.

"**No one… it is time for you to awake to worthless fuck. I doubt you want another team mate to die." **

The voice said this and suddenly Naruto felt his body blasted by a force of some kind and his eyes shot open and his hand shot up just in time to grab a kunai that was coming down at his face.. His palm was tore up and blood dripped down upon his pillow and hair but he stared into the eyes of his attacker.

It was a male that was no older than thirty and was frightened to death but all Naruto saw was a threat and he slowly stood to his feet. The man backed up towards a bed where Naruto saw Sasuke laying.

"You killed him…" Naruto whispered and looked at the man. "I'm…you're… DIE!" Naruto screamed and threw a clawed hand out at the man's neck. The man's eyes bugged out as Naruto ripped out his trachea sending a fountain of blood spraying across the room. Naruto stood panting with a chunk of meat in his hand and he watched the man gurgle and then fall to his knees before he collapsed to the ground. Naruto grabbed the kunai the man was holding and quickly held it in a defensive position and made his way down the steps.

He forgot that Sasuke was there and was solely focused on one thing. Finding the boy's killer. He crept down slowly until he heard the sounds of fighting outside and then he picked up the pace. As he walked out the door he found himself standing behind 8 Konoha Shinobi and in front of a small army of Gato's men. Naruto shivered and began to slowly walk forward, not making a single sound.

"Where is the person who killed Sasuke?" Naruto asked and Kakashi turned around and saw his face.

"Naruto…what are you doing?" he asked warily and Naruto watched as couple more ninja turned around and he saw Ino, Sakura, Iruka, Chouji, and Shikimaru.

"Where is the guy who killed Sasuke?" Naruto demanded and Kakashi froze up.

_No… he's about to snap!_ Kakashi thought.

"AHHHHH!" Naruto screamed as he dashed towards the crowd of mercenaries who were slightly unnerved by the psycho blond. "YOU KILLED HIM!"

**That's basically the first chapter for bow, I hope that no one is to confused because I have to explain things better in later chapters. Review and tell me what you think of this idea.**


	3. Chapter 3: Becoming Rational

_He forgot that Sasuke was there and was solely focused on one thing. Finding the boy's killer. He crept down slowly until he heard the sounds of fighting outside and then he picked up the pace. As he walked out the door he found himself standing behind 8 Konoha Shinobi and in front of a small army of Gatō's men. Naruto shivered and began to slowly walk forward, not making a single sound._

"_Where is the person who killed Sasuke?" Naruto asked and Kakashi turned around and saw his face._

"_Naruto…what are you doing?" he asked warily and Naruto watched as couple more ninja turned around and he saw Ino, Sakura, Iruka, Chōji, and Shikamaru._

"_Where is the guy who killed Sasuke?" Naruto demanded and Kakashi froze up._

_No… he's about to snap! Kakashi thought._

"_AHHHHH!" Naruto screamed as he dashed towards the crowd of mercenaries who were slightly unnerved by the psycho blond. "YOU KILLED HIM!"_

Chapter 2: Becoming Rational

Before Naruto could go any further he was halted by Asuma's fist smashing into the back of his skull, effectively knocking him unconscious. As the boy's eyes slowly shut and he fell limp the bearded Shinobi quickly grabbed the boy and set him down next to himself. As he laid Naruto's still body on the ground he looked up at Kakashi who was muttering to himself. The bearded Jōnin was able to read the man's lips and saw that he had quietly muttered to himself 'He's starting to snap…' Asuma didn't need prompting and he turned and looked at his teams mind walker.

"Ino!" Asuma barked quickly and the girl looked at him.

"What is it Asuma-sensei?" she asked paying full attention. She let her gaze lower down to the now still form of Naruto next to Asuma's feet.

"Take Naruto inside and do a mind walk on him, fix whatever is breaking in his mind and don't let him come out until he is somewhat stabilized is that clear?" Asuma ordered, his eyes were hard and focused on the platinum blond haired girl.

"Hai sensei!" she said and quickly dashed over to his side and looped her arms under Naruto's armpits and began to pull him backwards inside. The sight would have been amusing if they had not been on a mission, fighting for the lives of many right now.

Kakashi began to run the consequences of Ino entering Naruto's mind through his head but he finally came to the conclusion that it would be worse for them all if the boy were to go crazy. He looked over at his other student who was watching Naruto with a look of shock and grief. "Sakura, go help her with whatever she may need." He said and the pink haired girl hesitated before nodding and ran over to help her friend. She grabbed Naruto's ankles and hoisted him into the air and the two carried him inside.

The two girls manage to get him upstairs finally and then they hesitate outside of the room that Sasuke and Naruto were in. The door is closed so they can't see the dead body of the thug that tried to kill Naruto lying in there. Ino looked at the door and then Sakura before nodding her head to the side at a room across the hall. "Bring him in here." She said as she opened the door with her foot to reveal a small room with a single bed against the wall. The girls carry him inside the room carefully and slowly set him on the bed.

Ino takes a deep breath and sits down on the bed, her hand resting against the blonds' forehead and she can feel the cold sweat beading above his brow. She closes her eyes and begins to focus and just as she is about to enter the boys mind she feels a hand grip her shoulder tightly, breaking her attention. She looks up and finds Sakura staring at Naruto with sad emerald eyes.

"What? I have to do this now!" Ino exclaims and Sakura winces at the girl's impatience.

"I…I want to go in to." Sakura mutters and looks Ino straight in the eye. "He's my team mate." She finishes and Ino rolls the implications over in her head. If she lets Sakura in it means that the girl can help calm Naruto while Ino fixes the problem on the other hand her own focus would have to be near flawless so that she doesn't get ripped away from Naruto's mind by something Sakura does, also Ino has never tried a mind walk with someone other than a clan member. Ino sighs and looks at Naruto once before returning her gaze back to Sakura.

"Fine, but we have to hurry." Ino says and grabs Sakura's hand and closes her eyes re-establishing her focus on entering Naruto's mind. She feels a sudden pull and everything goes black.

Naruto finds himself in the endless dark again. He whimpers as he spins in circles hoping to find something other than blackness but all he finds is still…nothing. He cries out with a distinguished cry but receives no answer. Naruto closes his eyes and feels tears forming, trying to push through the walls that are his eyelids. Naruto clenches his fists, bites his lip, and takes a step forward. As he places one foot in front of the other he feels himself finally moving forward even though he still isn't able to see. Soon Naruto is sprinting forward and he begins to hear a faint sound that gets louder and louder until he finally recognizes it as splashing. Every time he brings his foot down he hears a splash of water but he doesn't feel wet at all. As he tries to figure out why he's hearing splashing another sound begins to become louder. At first it's a whisper, not really able to be defined as a word.

"…to …tuo, Naruto."

As soon as the blond hears his name he freezes and the black world around him gets cold. He watches as a spider web of light appears in front of him. He can hear a cracking sound and he turns to find small little cracks of light appearing around him.

"Naruto!"

The voice yells again and the cracks begin to spread faster and Naruto can faintly see his own body now. He holds his hands up and touch's one of the cracks of light.

"NARUTO!"

With the final yell of his name the darkness shatters and falls to the ground. Naruto gasps and stumbles as he finally can see again. He looks around wildly and sees that he is in a hallway flooded with water up to his ankles. Torches align the wall, casting a warm glow upon him but the light in the hall seems too bright to just be lit by the firelight. Naruto turns around and finds his self looking at something foreign in the hallway. Standing a few feet away from him are Ino and Sakura with concerned looks on their face. Naruto cocks his head at them curiously and takes a step forward.

"Sakura…Ino?" he asks and the blonde girl nods and steps towards him.

"Naruto, I don't have time to explain. Your mind is starting to shatter and when that happens you'll go insane…" Ino says and Naruto stares at her then his gaze drifts over his shoulder to Sakura, slightly annoying the blonde girl who is trying to explain that he is in danger.

"Sakura… did… is he really dead?" Naruto asks and the pink haired girl opens her mouth to say something but finds that no words will come out. She looks down and to the side shamefully and Naruto sorrowfully nods. "I see…" Naruto says and before he can continue on he hears a loud pitched noise scream through the hall and he grabs his head in agony. He feels the walls rumbling and the water is vibrating sending little waves crashing against his body. As the noise fades he's panting slightly and he looks up to find Ino and Sakura staring at him with shock.

"Naruto, I have to do it now. Your minds falling apart on itself!" Ino almost screams as another tremor shakes the hall and Naruto finds himself slammed against a wall while the two girls' just stand there rooted in place. He looks at Ino and nods and the girl begins dashing down the hall towards a door that suddenly appeared as she ran. Naruto gets to his feet and runs after her and Sakura snaps out of her stupor and follows hot on his heels.

As they arrive at the door with Ino they find themselves staring at a black metal slab. It has large cracks all over it and Naruto grabs his head as a low buzz begins to emit inside of his mind. Ino looks at Naruto briefly before she sets to work fixing the door; Her hands are glowing blue as she lays her palms flat against the door and begins to slowly move them around. While she does this Sakura is standing next to Naruto; who has his eyes closed tightly.

"Naruto…" Sakura whispers trying to get her team mates attention.

"Sakura, I'm sorry. I couldn't help him…" Naruto says and clenches his fists in anger. He looks up at Sakura who is shaking her head, dismissing what he said.

"Naruto it isn't your fault, you tried as hard as you could. Besides we should have gone back to Konoha when we had the chance, Kakashi-sensei told us about the danger we were in and we said we could handle it." Sakura explains and then gives Naruto a small smile. "Don't beat yourself up." She finishes and Naruto nods.

"I'm done!" Ino exclaims as she steps back from the door and admires her handy work. "Of course I can only stabilize you for now, my dad or someone else will have to seriously fix it but this should hold for awhile." The blond girl says and turns back to Naruto. "Alright now let's get out of here so we can-"that's as far as she got before suddenly Naruto's attention was ripped away by a voice calling him.

"Naruto… come to me." A rough voice said. It didn't sound scary but instead it sounded inviting, powerful, and warm.

Naruto began to walk toward it and Ino and Sakura seemed equally curious as to who the voice belongs to. The trio of genin began to walk away from the fixed door and make their way to another door that was open now. Naruto could sense a presence behind it and he knew that where the voice is coming from was in the room beyond the door. As he drew closer his eyes opened wider as he tried to come up with what could lie beyond the door. As he stepped into the room he found himself starring at a cage with a seal in the middle of the two doors. Ino and Sakura walked in behind him and as Naruto tried to remember some lost piece of information two blood red eyes opened up suddenly and a feral grin of white teeth flashed for the three of them to see.

The blond swore as he remembered what he learned about himself when he became a Genin, he learned about the Kyubi no Kitsune! Naruto spun in a circle and quickly slammed his palms into both Sakura's and Ino's chests knocking them out of the room and making them sprawl out in the hallway. Naruto stared at them for a second before he grabbed the door and slammed it shut.

Ino was ripped out of the blonds mind suddenly and she gasped as she remembered the image she just saw. Her gaze traveled over to Sakura's and both girls share a horrified look.

"What was that?" Sakura asked as she stared at Naruto's still form.

"I…I don't know." Ino answered and stood to her feet. She took a few steps back from Naruto and shuddered. "But whatever it was… it scared the hell out of me." She finished and Sakura nodded in agreement.

Naruto was shaking in horror as he looked at the blood red eyes, staring into his very soul it felt like. He took a step back and watched with horrific amusement as the demon let its entire head come into view. Its fur was orange and its lips were black and showed the demons pearl white teeth. Naruto shuddered as the demon seemed to make him shrink under its fearful gaze, he felt so powerless, as though any purpose he had in life was now lost and he should just give up… forget his promise to Sasuke.

As Naruto shook in fear at the sight of the Fox, said demon was chuckling low and menacingly as it observed the human in front of it. It resembled the 4th Hokage perfectly only it had whisker mars due to the fact that the damned human was the jailor of the fox itself. As the Kyubi glared at Naruto it let its killing intent slowly reach out along with its chakra. It flooded forward like an ominous fog that slowly gathered around Naruto's feet making the boy collapse to his knees gasping for air. The Kyubi let out another lustful chuckle as it saw the human withering in front of it.

"**As though you can be strong enough to keep any promise you make. Foolish mortal, you fall before a small fraction of my killing intent… how could you face any other 'PERSON'!" **the Kyubi roared the last word with disgust apparent on its demonic face. The demon watched as Naruto managed to get to his feet, due to the fact that the Kyubi's killing intent and chakra had now receded. Naruto was panting heavily as he looked up at the giant demon before him.

"What…what do you want…you fucking fox?" Naruto demanded to know and the fox roared viciously.

Naruto fell to his knees gasping and holding his stomach as he was submerged in a larger dose of the Kyubi's killing intent. The fox snarled at the downed human in mock disgust and bared its fangs. **"You will not speak unless spoken to, do you understand?" **The Kyubi roared with pure anger. It looked at Naruto who was shaking on the ground and it shook its head again in disgust. **"You're pathetic, weak, un-useful, a waste of space and creation if you ask me. You care to much for others, you let your emotions get the best of you, you have no chakra control at all, you're lazy, you know not a single useful jutsu, the only jutsu you know is worthless because your just fucking stupid, your just fucking stupid if you didn't get the point, you fight for the wrong reasons, you have no real strength, you don't know anything, and you fall before the weakest enemies!" **The Kyubi roared and slammed its paw down making the room shudder. Naruto looked up at the beast, sucking in long gasps of air as he tried to get his breathing back to normal.

As Naruto listened to the insults to his weak points he realized that the demon was right. He was weak, he didn't know much, and he did fall to weak enemies. Naruto glared at the Kyubi who stared at him with contempt before going on. **"Even though you're a pathetic human who is worthless you do have your uses… you have a over abundance of your own chakra and coupled with mine you have enough chakra to make your own sea of it, you can use high leveled jutsu without sweating, you're too stupid to know when to give up, your healing rate is fast even with my healing factors added in, and your special abilities are very strong…wait, your too stupid to figure that out yet." **The Kyubi muttered as he brought up the last topic. He looked down at Naruto who was still glaring at him. The demon raised the right side of his mouth and growled at Naruto.

"Why am I here?" Naruto asked softly as he found his voice again.

"**I can't believe I was sealed in a weak mortal like you." **The Kyubi said, ignoring Naruto's question completely. The fox closed its red eyes and began to retreat into the darkness again. **"The foolish fuck of a man made the worse decision ever." **The Kyubi growled.

Naruto's nerves suddenly burned as he heard the demon insult his beloved hero. He stood straight, forgetting the killing intent and the fact that he was facing a demon, and stuck a pointed hand out at the demon that had retreated into the darkness. "He beat your sorry ass didn't he? Don't ever insult the 4th Hokage, he was the strongest ever and he beat the so called 'Demon King'." Naruto finished this and suddenly the room began to shake violently.

"**I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" **The Kyubi screamed as it slammed into the metal bars, its fangs bared and snarling, slobber flying everywhere. Its claws were trying to grab Naruto but the boy had jumped back in fear and the Kyubi roared in anger again. **"COME HERE MORTAL!" **The Kyubi screamed before it reared its claw back and swiped down at Naruto releasing a large wave of chakra that slammed into the boy and knocked him backwards. Things started to go black for the boy but he heard the Kyubi's final words.

"**I will win; I WILL WIN IN THE END!"**

Naruto suddenly sat up and took in a deep breath and looked around. He found himself sitting inside a new room and in it were Ino and Sakura who were sitting at the edge of his bed looking at him. Naruto sighed heavily as he realized that he was no longer in the Kyubi's cage but instead he was back to reality. He slowly moved his legs off the bed and set his feet flat on the floor and pushed himself up off the bed so that he was standing. He stretched out his arms and looked down at Ino and nodded. "Thanks." He muttered as he began to walk out of the room. He had his hand on the door, prepared to slide it open when he heard Sakura say something.

He turned back around and looked at the pink haired girl who was looking at the ground and leaned forward a little bit. "What'd you say….Sakura?" he asked and the girl looked up at him.

"I said…thank you Naruto…for everything." She repeated and Naruto let his hand fall off the door handle. He took a step forward and then let his gaze wander over to the other blonde girl in the room who was staring at both of them curiously.

"Ino, thanks for everything but…can I ask you to leave?" he asked and the girl snorted.

"I just saved you and now you're kicking me out?" she demanded and the blonde boy shrugged and gave her a small grin.

"I'm sorry, it's just…team mate issues." Naruto said and Ino's face went from defiant to understanding.

"Oh, okay… just hurry up and get outside." Ino said and got to her feet. She walked over to the door and slid it open and before she disappeared she turned back to Naruto with sad eyes. "Naruto, I don't know what that was we saw but… what it was I hope that you beat it." She said and then shut the door leaving Naruto to close his eyes.

_If only you knew Ino, it isn't that easy… _Naruto thought this as he turned back to his pink haired team mate. He walks towards the bed and sits down next to her but maintains a good distance though as not to make things awkward. He looks at the ground and let's silence rule the room for awhile. He has so many things he wants to say but he can't; he can't find the right words for the moment. So what Naruto does is the only thing someone in his situation can do; he turned to the pink haired girl and clenched his hands into fists slowly and asked "For what?"

Sakura looked up at the blonde and answered him. "You tried to protect him, it's not your fault he's dead, but it was you that tried to save him." Sakura said this and as she finishes she watches as Naruto shakes his head and snorts.

The blonde bean to laugh and looked away from the girl and instead he looked to his left at the ceiling. After a few moments he finally looked back at Sakura with sadness radiating from his eyes. "But he still died didn't he…?" Naruto asked and got to his feet. He took a few steps forward before Sakura, who became silent at his answer, spoke up again.

"Naruto, it's just us now… I know that I… I'm sorry I was such a bitch back at the academy but…we are all each other has now! We have to be there for each other always!" Sakura said as she slammed her fists into her lap and looked down at them, her eyes clenched shut as tears slowly dripped down her cheeks. Naruto turned around and looked at her for a second and then looked back at the door. He took another step forward before he bit his lip and turned on his heel and slowly made his way over to Sakura. He knelt down in front of the girl who opened her eyes at his approach.

He looked up into her emerald eyes and she stared back at his own. His eyes wandered down to her hands which were folded together and he brought his up slowly and pried them apart gently and took them into his own. His eyes wandered back up to hers and he smiled slightly as he squeezed both of her hands gently. After a brief second Naruto's face became serious and he took a deep breath before he spoke. He looked down at her hands again before he looked up at her face again and whispered "Do you trust me Sakura?"

The pink haired girl was shocked by his sudden question and she was about to answer immediately. Of course she trusted him; he was her team mate, even though he had been very annoying in the past. She opened her mouth to speak but Naruto was not finished.

"Not just as a team mate, you're suppose to trust me in that field after all of our D-ranked missions together. No, I want to know do you trust me as a person…would you put your life into my hands?" Naruto asked and Sakura stared at him for a second and mulled the question around in her head.

She nodded once and smiled. "Yes Naruto, I trust you with my own life." She said and Naruto nodded in return and pulled her closer to his own face. There were mere inches between both Genin's face and Sakura was starting to feel slightly awkward until Naruto spoke his next words.

"Sakura, I swear on my life that I'll protect you no matter what." Naruto says and the girl saw utter determination on the boy's face and she realized that he completely meant it.

Sakura gasped slightly and Naruto pulled his face back and he stared at her while she came up with a response which came out as a question instead. "But…why? Why would you go through so much just for me?" she asked and Naruto shook his head and got to his feet. He didn't answer her and he walked to the door and she stared at his retreating back sadly, thinking she had offended him somehow. Naruto's hand was on the door handle and he opened it and set one foot outside of the room before he froze.

He didn't turn around and give her a macho smile or a goofy grin with a thumb up but instead Naruto just muttered in a voice that was barely hearable to Sakura "I've lost one team mate already… I don't plan on losing another." After he said that Naruto shut the door leaving a shocked Sakura staring at the place her only team mate had just been standing in.

Kakashi jumped back as he took out another three bandits. The small army was quickly becoming a nuisance due to the fact that it was rather large and that at least half of the thugs were actually C-ranked ninja. Kakashi started making hand seals for a jutsu when all of a sudden he heard a very familiar voice and a very familiar jutsu name.

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"**

Kakashi turned around and found his self staring at an army of 50 Naruto's along with who he presumed to be the original standing at the head of the army. Kakashi swore as he began to take a step forward to detain the boy yet again before a brutal bloodshed could occur. As his first foot met the ground he was frozen by Naruto's words.

"Leave now or you're going to suffer." The blonde said and Kakashi looked up and found that the boy didn't have a crazed psychotic look on his face anymore but instead he wore a look of pure anger and sorrow.

The army stared at the blonde kid in shock for a little bit before they burst out laughing and looking at each other. A few pointed mockingly at Naruto but otherwise none left like they were ordered. As they all laughed one high and nasally voice laughed louder than the rest and Kakashi watched as the army parted and he saw a short man step forward. The man had grey hair that stood up and he wore a pair of black framed, tinted glasses and in his hands was a cane that he was smacking against the concrete. Kakashi presumed that this man was Gatō since the army had parted for him and for the most part they were silent.

"I have to give it to you kid, you got spunk. You think you can just order MY army around? I got news for ya then… I'll kill you." Gatō said becoming deathly serious. Naruto stared at him blankly and the short man waited for a response. After a few minutes of silence the man spoke again. "What, don't you have an answer?" Gatō asked and Naruto shrugged.

"I'm just waiting for you to shut up so I can kill you." Naruto said as he pulled out a kunai.

"Big talk form a little boy!" Gatō accused as he rapped his cane on the ground again. "Maybe I'll kill-"that was as far as he got before Naruto interrupted him…from behind.

"You shouldn't talk, you're barely taller than myself old man." Naruto said as he pressed a kunai against Gatō's neck drawing a bead of blood.

"What…HOW?" Gatō asked in shock and horror. He couldn't turn to see the blonde behind him but he saw the blonde he had originally been talking to disappear in a cloud of smoke. Naruto let out a low and dark chuckle from behind him.

"It was a simple matter for me… I used my Shadow clone technique and distracted all of your men with big numbers then as everyone re-gathered themselves I just simply henged me and a few of my clones into your thugs and joined your ranks. As you were talking and shit I made my way towards you and now here we are…" Naruto said as he pressed the kunai just a bit harder making another bead of blood run down the metal weapons surface. "I do believe this is a check!" Naruto said and brought his hand back "AND A MATE!"

_Thunk_

Gatō's body crumpled to the ground and Naruto put his kunai back in the holster on his right thigh. Naruto quickly grabbed Gatō's unconscious form and dragged him away from the small army who was in shock about what just happened. A small blonde kid had just easily snuck by them and knocked their boss out. Naruto made it about half way to where his allies stood before the army roared and began charging forward. Before they could get any further though Naruto looked at his own clones and muttered a single word. "Attack." As soon as the word came out the clones flew into action and began to beat down on the army.

Team 10, Kakashi, Iruka, and Anko all joined in on the battle and in a few minutes every thug who hadn't been killed was now knocked unconscious and was in the process of being bound and gagged by everyone including the clones minus the real Naruto who was tying Gatō up himself. Naruto looked up from his handy work and found that his clones had almost finished all of their jobs so he dismissed them and allowed the remaining ninja to finish up. He let out a deep sigh and began to walk towards the inside door before he was stopped by Kakashi's voice.

"Hey Naruto…can we chat please?" the man asked.

**-Author's Note-  
(You may want to read this if you want to know what's going on!)**

Here's the second chapter of the story. As you can see I'm not going to make chapters make huge jumps in between each other; for the most part they will continue off of the last chapter. Some things that I would like to address right now though…

The whole relationship between Naruto & Sakura

The sudden maturity in the Genin

The jump between past and present pretense

Bloodlines

O.C's/O.O.C

Plot

Length

Updates

Pairings

Jutsu

Kyubi & Naruto

Sasuke

So the first thing I am going to discuss is the relationship between Sakura and Naruto. There isn't anything going on right now, they may or may not be a pairing there. The only reason they are suddenly so close is because they both just lost a team mate, of course their going to fall back on each other. Think of it this way; if you entire family were to die and only you and your brother who hated each other were the only two left wouldn't you be closer because of the tragedy? Yes you would; that is the same in this case here. As for now the two's feelings are Plutonic, nothing is going to really come out of it besides a best friendship.

Second, of course everyone just got mature. They learned about it at the academy, they learned that death was part of their life but they never experienced it so they couldn't mature in that area but now that it's happened you can see that they have all changed from the experience. It isn't some huge deal that is going to take 3 months for them to get over and finally mature. They are already coping with it and as you saw in this chapter, Ino and Sakura realized that they had to save Naruto instead of mope over Sasuke… he's dead Naruto isn't. I'm not saying that none of the characters aren't going to have their same old personality, I'm just saying that you're going to see a more early mature nature in them all instead of their stupid behavior they already have.

Third, I know that in the beginning I was writing in past tense then when they entered Naruto's mind I wrote in present tense and a bit before that. For some reason I couldn't write right at that time but as you can see I straightened it out around when Naruto finally met the Kyubi. Sorry about the nuisance.

Fourth, okay I know people love Bloodlines and everything and so there are going to be a lot in this story maybe. Now, I don't believe in every person having a super cool bloodline but I do like my characters having some special trait that sets them apart from others. That being the case I may hypothetically give Sakura a bloodline for a temporary boost in speed or recovery skill and I may give Lee a hidden Bloodline for a longer boost in speed. Those are just made up scenarios they are NOT going to happen, not that I know of. Naruto DOES have a bloodline I just don't want to be like "Uzumaki Naruto, by the power invested in me, I give thee an awesome fucking bloodline that will allow you to obliterate any fucking organism known to mankind." No, as you can see Naruto already used his bloodline in the first chapter and the Kyubi has mentioned it TWICE but Naruto didn't pick up on it. Also **NARUTO'S BLOOD LINE LIMIT IS ****NOT**** THE SHARINGAN!** I will explain that in the chapter where his bloodline is explained.

Fifth, yes characters are going to be out of the original context sometimes if not most of the time. I don't like some of the personalities in the canon because they are too dull and you can tell the story is a fantasy. It doesn't take a person to be in a life or death situation to finally realize that they like someone. Yes it may help but a relationship can be established before then. A perfect example of an O.O.C is Naruto. I want someone to tell me that they could lose their best friend in a fight, kill someone, almost go crazy, and meet a FUCKING DEMON SEALED INSIDE YOU! And not have your personality go through a small, no wait, MAJOR change! Seriously, it's hard to be the same after some events and certain events will happen to change certain people. I am also going to make some O.C characters in the future and I hope people will accept my creations because I love them with all my little heart. Just a warning they may be bad ass sometimes but I will not make random O.C's who are gods…unless they are bad guys. Then they may be godlike sometimes.

The plot of my story you may ask? I don't know... I kind of just got bored at school and with my other story and started writing this in a notebook and next thing I know I wasted five days coming up with 5 chapters, character profiles, and a bunch of jutsu to use in the story. So yeah, just know that it will follow the canon in some obvious places but with different things taking place. The best example is the Chūnin exam, it will happen just so that I can use it for later events in my story. Other than that it will be AU and guess what? NARUTO & SAKURA ARE GOING TO LEARN JUTSU! Crazy huh?

Okay the length of my story will always be different sometimes. You see I have every chapter up to chapter 5 written down in my notebook. Well okay I have a outline of them but still on the top of every page I write the name of the story, the chapter, the name of the chapter, and finally my goal for how many words I want. Typically a chapter will take up 2 pages front and back and they are just vague bullet points of what happens in the chapter and I will write about those bullet points. So sometimes the bullet points could make up half the story while others may only make up a small part! So always be prepared to read a long chapter or get ready to be content with a shorter one. But as a warning my chapters will never and I mean NEVER be shorter than 4,000 words!

I update whenever the FUCK I want! (Note: I like Tayuya a lot ) That's it on that matter.

I don't know who I want right now for a pairing but I know for sure that Naruto is going to have at least 2 girls and no more than 4 and that's the way the cookie crumbles!

As far as Jutsu goes, I like it when a ninja uses jutsu that relates to their affinity only. I know that ninja can use all of the elements but it is harder but I hate doing all that so yeah ninja are limited to their affinities that they have unless they have a bloodline that allows them to use more than one like Kakashi. Also I make up pretty much all of my Jutsu so yeah if you want to steal one just ask me so I can feel all warm and fuzzy inside knowing someone likes my creation.

Kyubi hates Naruto it's that easy. I know I make Kyubi tolerate him in my other stories but I have a purpose for that usually. In this story Naruto and Kyubi aren't going to always see eye to eye. I'm not saying that they won't eventually be able to tolerate each other…for awhile.

Last but not least, Sasuke. When a cat gets hit by five cars it's safe to assume it's dead right? Well same goes for Sasuke, he's dead! GONE, NO MORE, CEASED TO EXSIST, HE HAS PASSED ON! Just a little spoiler though! This is not the last time we will see him. He will appear throughout the story.

_**I DON'T OWN NARUTO AND THIS GOES FOR THE ENTIRE STORY BECAUSE IF I DID OWN NARUTO I WOULDN'T BRING BACK EVERY DEAD FUCKING NINJA THAT HAS EVER WALKED THE FUCKING PLANET! ALSO NARUTO WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO BE SERIOUS WHEN HE FIGHTS/ KICKS PAIN'S ASS, MEETS HIS DAD AND MOM, BEATS THE FUCKING KYUBI NO KITSUNE, AND STILL BE DUMBER THEN A FUCKING ROCK! SUCK MY DISCLAIMER!**_


	4. Chapter 4: The Promise

_Team 10, Kakashi, Iruka, and Anko all joined in on the battle and in a few minutes every thug who hadn't been killed was now knocked unconscious and was in the process of being bound and gagged by everyone including the clones minus the real Naruto who was tying Gatō up himself. Naruto looked up from his handy work and found that his clones had almost finished all of their jobs so he dismissed them and allowed the remaining ninja to finish up. He let out a deep sigh and began to walk towards the inside door before he was stopped by Kakashi's voice._

"_Hey Naruto…can we chat please?" the man asked._

Chapter 3: The Promise

Kakashi began to walk away from the house towards the woods nearby and Naruto followed him silently. As they walked Naruto ran through a million different things that the man could possibly want to talk about but he couldn't decide on a single one. _He probably wants to talk about Sasuke…_ the blonde thought this as they got to the edge of the trees and continued walking in, away from the eyesight or hearing range of any others. After a few more minutes they finally arrived in a small clearing that Naruto didn't recognize at all. Kakashi leaned back against a tree and crossed his arms as he let his gaze travel up to the blue sky. Naruto stared at the man for a minute until Kakashi finally looked back down at Naruto who had his hands in his pockets, his feet toeing the ground impatiently.

Kakashi sighed as he realized that his former hyperactive student is locked behind a cage now after Sasuke's death. "Naruto, there wasn't anything you could do." The silver haired Jōnin said and watched the blonde boy stop all fidgeting. A slight breeze blew by and ruffled both ninja's hair and clothes and as it faded Naruto finally replied, letting the wind carry his words to Kakashi.

"Yeah there was… I could have been stronger. Then Sasuke wouldn't have had to put his life on the line for me." Those were the words Kakashi heard and he finally could feel just how much guilt was on the blonde's shoulders. It reminded him of his own mistakes in the past. Kakashi stepped away from the tree and put his hand on the blonde's shoulder, making an attempt to comfort him.

"No Naruto, that's what team mates are for. They are meant to help you when you are weak and sometimes they die. No matter how strong you may get…mistakes happen." Kakashi muttered and Naruto looked up at him with tears brimming in his eyes.

"How would you know Kakashi-sensei? Have you ever lost a team mate?" Naruto asked as he wiped the tears away with his sleeve and continued to stare at Kakashi with sorrow and anger.

"Yes Naruto… I've lost a team mate before. His name was… Uchiha Obito. It was during the 3rd Great Ninja War and it was my first mission as a Jōnin, my sensei… he put me in charge and as he fought the ranks of Iwa somewhere else me and my team mates went to a major bridge in order to destroy it. On the way there… my team mate Inuzuka Rin was captured by a team of Iwa ninja and it was then that I had to make a choice. Go after Rin or continue the mission; I choose to finish the mission. Obito, he didn't agree though and he went after Rin." Kakashi said and looked at Naruto who was staring at him apprehensively. "At the last second I went to save my friend but in the process I lost my left eye. I bandaged it but I had a new severe blind spot and when we found Rin and were escaping Iwa used a jutsu on us… I still don't know what it was to this day but all I know is that I was struck in my blind spot and I was knocked down. Obito… he…" Kakashi stopped talking and looked up at the sky. "He saved me but in the process he was killed. Before he died he gave me his left eye and made me promise to protect my friends… I couldn't keep that promise though." Kakashi said this and looked down at Naruto. The man got down on one knee and put both of his hands on Naruto's shoulders and looked him straight in the eye.

"Everyday Naruto I think about it. 'What if I had gone with him originally? Would I have received that injury while saving him? If I hadn't got it then we could have all escaped and made it out alive.' These are the thoughts I always have but I made a mistake and became weak… but my team mate was there to help me." Kakashi said this and Naruto stared at him for a few seconds before he nodded slowly.

"I…I get it Kakashi-sensei. I can't sit here and cry over Sasuke's death… I have to get up and fight so that no one else dies." Naruto said and Kakashi nodded as he got to his feet.

"I just have one more question. I sensed a foul chakra that I recognized as the Kyubi's…" Kakashi said and let the unasked question hang in the air.

Naruto sighed and finally answered. "Yeah, I used the fox's chakra…" he muttered and looked away.

"Did you kill the hunter-nin while using it?" Kakashi asked and Naruto shook his head.

"No… I-I…I killed him with my own will." Naruto said and Kakashi nodded and then looked at the blonde sternly.

"Naruto, that power you have…it's like a drug. The more you use it the more you want to use it. It can corrupt you if you don't have complete control over it…" Kakashi said and Naruto nodded.

"I don't want to use it if I don't have to Sensei… but… there was one thing Sasuke said when he died." Naruto said and looked at Kakashi with a confused look.

"What was that?" Kakashi asked and Naruto scratched his head.

"He said…'Sharingan'." Naruto answered and Kakashi scratched his chin in puzzlement as he tried to think of anything that could mean.

"I don't now… guess it doesn't really matter right now; let's get back to the house, we have to go back to Konoha as soon as possible." The Jōnin said and Naruto nodded as they began to walk back to the small wooden cottage. As they walk Naruto feels a question that must be asked tug at his heart.

"Kakashi-sensei… what will happen to our team?" Naruto asked and Kakashi sighed as he finally remembered that Sasuke's death affected the entire team and its makeup. The silver haired Jōnin turned back towards Naruto and spoke.

"Well either the Hokage will find us a replacement member or… Team 7 will be disbanded and we will only be used for back up on missions…" Kakashi explained and Naruto nodded sadly as he realized that Team 7 might be done for as of that day. Naruto looked to heavens sadly, praying for a miracle and Kakashi smiled sadly as he reached out and ruffled Naruto's hair. "Come on… the others are waiting."

A small ferry that was meant to carry them across the water to the other side of the land was banked on the shore. The backup sent to aid Team 7 was already inside waiting for it to depart to the other side while Team 7, minus Sasuke, were standing on the shore saying sorrowful goodbyes to some of the villagers. Sasuke's body was in Kakashi's arms and the boy seemed to have a somewhat peaceful expression on his face. Kakashi was silent for the most part while Naruto and Sakura bid their farewells to Inari, Tsunami, and Tazuna.

"So what are you going to do with the short elf?" Naruto asked and Tazuna chuckled at the question. The old man stuck his hands in his pockets and looked up at the clouds as he let a blissful look slowly spread across his face.

"Well, since we can finally put him on trial I'm thinking he'll be punished like he should. Besides with all of the thugs you captured I am sure that we can get more money to circulate back into our town with their bounties on their heads." Tazuna said and Naruto nodded accepting the fate of the men. "After we get some cash you can expect me to pay you guys for an A-ranked mission well done." Tazuna said and Naruto looked away as he realized that even though Sasuke had died they had completed the mission.

Naruto turned to Kakashi and sighed as he began walking forward until a voice stopped him. "Nii-san, wait!" Inari's voice rang out and Naruto turned around to find a small group of villagers walking towards them. In the middle of the crowd was a giant sword that Naruto's recognized as Zabuza's giant Zanbato. Naruto stared at the sword dumbly before he turned to Tazuna and then Kakashi.

"What…?" he muttered and Kakashi shrugged as Naruto watched the villagers set the sword down at his feet.

"You… you saved this country Naruto-kun. Without you, and your brave team, we would still be held captive by Gatō and his men. Take this as a token of our gratitude, we could sell it to many people who would be willing to buy it but we want you to have it." Tsunami said as she bowed to the blonde. Following her lead almost every villager bowed to Naruto who stared at everyone in shock until they finally stood straight again.

"But…HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSE TO USE THAT?" Naruto yelled gesturing at the giant sword. Kakashi couldn't help but grin and Sakura growled lightly.

"Just take it!" she muttered and Naruto grumbled and tried to pick the sword up. He got it a few feet off the ground but it fell again and he sighed.

"Son of a bitch… sword weighs more than a boulder!" he exclaimed as he made a cross seal and a group of Kage Bunshin appeared around the sword and managed to hefted it up into the air. They sauntered off towards the ferry and loaded the sword on to it. Naruto looked back at the villagers and grin sheepishly and stuck his hands in his pockets. "Well guys…I guess we better get going." He muttered as he turned on his heel. Sakura turned to follow him and as Naruto was about to step on to the ferry Tazuna's yelled to him.

"Hey brat!" the man yelled and Naruto turned his head to the man. "What do you want the name of the bridge to be?" he asked and Naruto stared at him before chuckling slightly and letting his gaze fall on his dead team mate.

"Call it…"

After they had gotten off of the ferry the Konoha ninjas began to journey back to the village. They were moving at a quicker pace then they had when they had originally left the village with Tazuna. Instead of walking they were just jumping from tree branch to tree branch; Naruto was talking quietly with Iruka, Sakura and Ino were chattering away making sure to keep their voices low so no one could hear them, Asuma and Kakashi were discussing something that no one knew about, and Anko was terrorizing Shikamaru while Chōji watched with amusement.

"So why did you want to name it Unmei no Kidō (Path of Destiny)?" Iruka asked Naruto who was twirling a scroll around in his hand. The scroll contained Zabuza's Zanbato, Kakashi had watched with amusement as Naruto's clones dragged it around for awhile until it began to slow them down too much. After that he quickly sealed the sword away in a scroll for the blonde. Naruto ceased to twirl the scroll around and looked at Iruka with a blank look on his face as he thought about why he said that name.

"Because… we all grew up today on that bridge… it was part of our life and we are all destined to mature at some point so I figured that was the place that we stepped on to the path of maturity." Naruto explained and Iruka nodded once and thought about it.

"So do you believe that destiny shapes your entire life then?" Iruka asked and Naruto shook his head and they continued to jump from tree to tree for awhile in silence.

"I believe that we are all destined to be born and all destined to die. I don't believe that anything is destined to happen between those two points, we are allowed to shape our own life from our beginning up until our end." Naruto said after he considered his answer carefully. "I don't believe that it was destined for Sasuke to die today, I believe it was our own actions that made that happen…" Naruto trailed off and Iruka nodded sadly and looked up towards Kakashi who was still carrying Sasuke's limp body.

"I see… Naruto you're a great ninja." Iruka said and Naruto nodded in thanks before becoming silent leaving his former sensei to ponder his own thoughts on the outcome of the mission they were sent on. Naruto on the other hand was thinking about the final words that Sasuke had said on the bridge.

_What did you mean? Sharingan… what is it even? Sasuke… I saw what happened at your house; your family killed by your brother. You were alone like me only you weren't truly alone…you still had family but it was your traitorous brother… what is that feeling like? How does it feel to know that you are alone but not truly alone…what does it feel like to have nothing but loneliness in your life and the one person who you thought you loved is the person you want to kill the most? Sasuke…if only you had been more open then maybe…maybe you wouldn't have been alone._ Naruto closed his eyes as he finished the last thought and when he opened them he picked up the speed leaving Iruka to look at his back in shock.

Naruto landed on a tree branch and pushed off with a little bit more chakra so that he landed on the same branch as Kakashi and maintained his speed with the man. "Hey Kakashi-sensei, I have a huge favor to ask." The boy said and Kakashi looked at him and nodded, halting his conversation with Asuma for the moment.

"What is it?" Kakashi asked the blonde who looked at Sasuke with a look of determination on his face.

"Can you please train me when we get back to the village. Can you train me to be way stronger? I don't ever want to lose someone precious to me again." Naruto said and Kakashi stared at him.

_You really have matured in this one day Naruto…_ the man thought and then he answered the blonde's question. "Yeah, I don't see why not…" Kakashi muttered and then nodded his head. "Yeah, I think we will train more as a team and I'll make both you and Sakura strong…" Kakashi said and Naruto nodded as he let himself fall backwards so that he could keep moving next to Iruka.

Sakura watched Naruto exchange words with Kakashi and she began to wonder what the boy could have been talking about. As she landed on the next branch and jumped again she dismissed the curiosity figuring that it didn't concern her. She watched Naruto slowly fall back until he was back by Iruka's side and she frowned. Naruto had seemed as though he thought of her as his best friend now but he hadn't really spoken to her since they had talked in the room. She sighed and closed her eyes sadly as she let her thoughts wander to other places.

"Are you okay?" Ino sudden voice asked and Sakura opened her eyes and looked at her concerned friend.

Sakura gave her a half meaningful smile and replied. "Yeah, I'm fine…" she muttered and looked away again.

Ino nodded and continued to jump forward letting both girls fall into an uncanny silence. Ino focused her thoughts on the sound of feet hitting logs instead of letting her mind wander and think about the dead Uchiha she loved _Sasuke…_ she thought this and looked at Kakashi who still had the dead boy in his arms. Ino felt a sudden pang in her heart and she sadly cursed herself for letting her mind think about Sasuke again. Why did she keep letting herself get depressed? _Come on Ino, you used to have a silly crush on him back at the academy and for all the wrong reasons! He was on Team 7; your Team 10 so focus on your own team. But still… he was cute… but still he was too depressing! Oh, come on Ino! Willpower, use your willpower! _Ino clenched her fists as she fought with her own inner feelings over the death of Sasuke. _But maybe you aren't feeling this way because you 'love' him… maybe it's because he was part of the rookie 9 and now… he's gone. _Ino came to the sudden realization and her eyes glosses over as everything crashed down on her. "One of our generations is gone…" she whispered to herself.

"What was that?" Sakura asked hearing Ino mutter something to herself.

"N-nothing! Its fine I was just thinking…" Ino trailed off and Sakura looked at her with concern.

"Were you…thinking about Sasuke also?" Sakura asked as she turned her head straight ahead and focused on Naruto's red spiral on his orange jumpsuit. _Maybe he'll finally change that horrid thing!_ Sakura thought as she stared at her remaining team mate.

"Yeah…only… I just realized something." Ino said and she looked at Sakura with sadness. "Of the rookie 9 we just lost one…someone in our class just died making our numbers even now… also wasn't Sasuke the last Uchiha? That means Konoha just suffered a major loss, it lost one of the most powerful clans it ever had…forever." Ino finished and Sakura nodded her head once.

"Yeah, I thought about that already… it sucks but…but things happen and I just hope we can get through it." Sakura said ending the conversation effectively. Ino sensed this and didn't continue to talk about the subject instead she waited for a little bit before she finally asked Sakura a question.

"Hey Sakura… we wasted so much time and destroyed our friendship… but I was wondering… do you maybe want to have a slumber party with all the girls like we used to?" Ino asked and Sakura slowly looked at her. Ino couldn't read Sakura's face at all and so she was scared that maybe she had imposed the sudden friendship on her to fast making the pink haired girl think she was trying to be pitiful and fill the void Sasuke had just left.

"Ino-pig! I remember the last time I slept over… you walked into the room when I was changing you hentai! Then you had the audacity to comment about me!" Sakura said angrily.

"Pfft, not my fault you're only a measly B-cup, I mean I'll have you know I'm going to be going up to C-cup soon." Ino said with a smirk and watched as Sakura smiled slowly at her.

"Nice to have you back…friend." Sakura said and giggled. "But I do remember that you used to STUFF YOURSELF AT THE ACADEMY!" Sakura said and got louder making sure everyone heard her. Ino stared at her in pure shock as a blush crossed her face.

"I-I did no such thing!" she yelled at Sakura.

Shikamaru heard the comment and ignored Anko for a second to offer some of his own input. "I do remember you coming to school one day with your breasts looking slightly larger than the next day they were A LOT smaller." He mused making Ino turn and glare at him viciously.

"Liar! You were always sleeping in class! You never had the time to pay attention!" Ino yelled and suddenly heard a low chuckle from in front of her. She turned around and found Naruto trying to muffle a laugh and she blushed even redder. _No way! Naruto heard everything to! _She thought in despair as the blonde boy turned around on her.

"I do remember seeing some white stuff sticking out of your shirt once." Was all he said and everyone finally erupted into laughter.

"Hehe yeah Ino-chan we can have a slumber party sometime again." Sakura said patting a blushing Ino on the shoulder. As she said that she heard Kakashi finally announce their arrival to Konoha to them all.

"We're home!" he said somewhat with relief but a hidden sense of apprehensiveness.

As they entered the village gates Naruto could hear thunder in the distance and he turned to find storm clouds rolling in from the north. He sighed and started walking forward next to Kakashi who had taken the lead while Team 10 had already went their separate way, bidding Team 7 good-bye. Iruka was walking next to him and as they started getting to the populated part of the village he looked down at Naruto and gave him a sad smile.

"No matter what Naruto… it wasn't your fault." The brown haired Chūnin said this and then jumped away from the four ninja. Anko only stuck around until they encountered the first civilians and then she to left without a word.

As the first few civilians saw them Naruto for once didn't feel the looks of hatred cast upon him. Instead all he saw were looks of sheer grief and shock that were casted upon the cold body of Uchiha Sasuke. As they walked and the looks became more numerous in quantity Naruto cast his eyes down on the ground. He stuck his hands in his pockets and tried to remember Iruka's words. _It wasn't my fault…it wasn't… _As he thought this over and over he felt someone's hand slip into his own. He looked up from the ground, his concentration broken, and found Sakura smiling at him sadly.

"We're all in this together…right Kakashi-sensei?" she asked and looked up at the man. Kakashi looked down at them and nodded giving them a sad eye smile.

"Yup… all for one and one for all… or something like that." Kakashi muttered and looked back ahead which earned a low half hearted chuckle from Naruto and Sakura who hands were still linked together.

Naruto tightened his grip on Sakura's hand as the Hokage tower came into view and he saw a single figure standing in front of it. By this time the storm clouds had mysteriously covered all of Konoha casting a light shadow over the village and a slight breeze rolled across the streets sending loose debris and dust whirling around. As they drew closer Naruto recognized the figure as the Sandaime Hokage. The old man's robes were slightly fluttering in the breeze while smoke from his pipe was blown away. Naruto saw the look of concern on the man's face and when they finally stopped a few feet in front of him the look of concern slowly slipped away, leaving a look of pure shock and grief.

"Alas…today is a sad day for all of Konoha…" the Hokage said as he turned away and began to walk to a large pair of doors set in the bottom of the Hokage tower. He stopped in front of them and with one motion with his left hand he beckoned Team 7 to follow him; which they did. The man pushed the doors opened and Naruto felt a warm wave of air wash over him as he followed Kakashi in. Sakura was still by his side holding his hand, tighter now and Naruto squeezed it more for his own comfort then hers. Even before he could let his gaze travel across the entire council room he heard gasps and cries all around.

"For today Konoha has lost the Uchiha clan." The Hokage finished as he continued forward to his own spot at the head of the council. He sat down and on his left side which would be Team 7's right, was the Shinobi council. On his right or Team 7's left was the civilian council. Naruto stepped into the middle of the room and released Sakura's hand letting his own fall down to his sides. Sakura stopped next to him and next to her was Kakashi with Sasuke in his arms. The man slowly and carefully set Sasuke's body down and the Hokage looked at it for a second before making a quick motion. Suddenly a black figure appeared in front of the body and then disappeared in a whirlwind of leaves, Sasuke's body now gone.

"Team 7, report!" The Hokage said and Kakashi nodded and stepped forward.

"Hai Hokage-sama!" he responded and bowed his head before he looked up and started speaking making everyone one hush their quiet conversations. "My team was given a C-ranked escort mission to Wave Country. As we escorted our client we were attacked by the Demon Brothers of the Mist. After a brief engagement my team was able to restrain the missing-nin and then find out from our client that he was targeted by a man named Gatō a business tyrant who ruled of Wave country without mercy. I stated that my team should go back to Konoha due to the falsifying of a mission rank but both Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke denied such action and we continued on. A few hours later we were attacked by The Bloody Demon of the Mist, Momoichi Zabuza. I was captured but Sasuke and Naruto were able to free me and I fought Zabuza who was then assumed to be killed by a Kiri Hunter-nin. The Hunter left with Zabuza's body and I wasn't able to think about anything because I fell unconscious due to over exertion in my fight." Kakashi said and before he could keep going a voice from the civilian council interrupted him.

"Isn't it law for a Hunter-nin to destroy a missing-nins body on scene?" the man asked and Kakashi nodded.

"Yes it is. As I was saying, and your question shall be discussed, when I awoke we were at the clients house. I told my team that Zabuza wasn't dead because hunter-nin are required to destroy their targets corpse on scene but this one didn't. After revealing this I began to train my team in tree walking and after a couple weeks I was better and my team and I protected the client while he built the bridge. We were attacked that day by Zabuza and his partner. I engaged Zabuza in battle while Sasuke fought the partner and Sakura protected the client." Kakashi said and then looked at the Hokage who was staring at him curiously.

"Kakashi-san, where was Naruto during this protecting and fight?" he asked looking at the blonde boy who was looking at the ground.

"I can't specify what happened afterwards but before we had left Naruto had trained so much that he reached a point of utter exhaustion. Sasuke had to but he had reached that point a couple days earlier and so had more time to rest. I left Naruto at the client's house allowing him to recover not expecting an attack to be launched." Kakashi said this and then the Hokage nodded.

"So what happened to you Naruto? Did you partake in this mission at all?" he asked and Naruto looked up sadly.

"Yeah jiji…I did. When I woke up finally my team was gone and I ran to catch up with them but on the way I found that a bunch of tree's and a boar were slashed up pretty good. I realized that the slash marks were leading back to old man Tazuna's house and so I ran back and found two thugs trying to kidnap Tsunami and about to kill Inari so I knocked both of them out and then dashed to the bridge. When I got there Kakashi and Sasuke were already fighting." Naruto said and the Hokage nodded as he processed the information.

"Kakashi, what happened? Why did Uchiha Sasuke…die? He asked and Kakashi shook his head.

"I can't answer that Hokage-sama… Naruto was the one who saw and was there for it all. I have not even gotten the story yet." Kakashi said and all eyes suddenly shifted to Naruto who looked back down at the ground.

"Naruto…may you?" the Hokage asked and Naruto looked at the old man and opened his mouth to respond and then shifted his gaze at Sakura.

"Sakura… please leave… I can't say everything in front of you." Naruto said and the pink haired girl stared at him in shock.

"What…why?" she demanded in a whisper.

"I told you I would never hurt you again…this story is…it…please?" he asked and Sakura heard the begging tone of his voice and nodded.

"Hokage-sama, may I please step out?" she asked and the Hokage nodded allowing her to step out of the council meeting. She walked away and casted a sad look at Naruto who was preparing to tell the story. _Naruto… we are going to talk… _

"Okay please start Naruto." The Hokage said and Naruto sighed.

"I got there and Sasuke was stuck in a dome of ice mirrors…I think the guy we were fighting said that it was a Kekkei Genkai or something." Naruto said and that earned several horrified gasps from the civilians and made more Shinobi members a bit more alert. "Anyways I jumped in and immediately I found that Sasuke and I were getting our asses handed to us. The guy was using the mirrors to like fly around or something and then he'd throw Senbon at us. After awhile Sasuke and I were hit so much that we could barely move and… that bastard threw a killing barrage at me and Sasuke… he jumped in front of the attack." Naruto whispered this as he clenched his fists. "He died in my arms…and then…" Naruto said and looked at Kakashi who nodded for him to tell the council everything. "I used the Kyubi's chakra."

As soon as he said this a large gasp went up around the entire room. Naruto heard a large wave of whispers suddenly and he felt his ears getting red as people discussed him as though he wasn't there. He looked up and found several people looking at him with concern, not for his well being but for their own. Suddenly a pink haired woman stood from her seat on the civilian side and screamed for everyone to shut up. Naruto saw a resemblance between her and Sakura and immediately figured that the women was her mother.

"Everyone shut the hell up and let him explain!" she yelled making everyone fall silent. She looked down at Naruto with a kind face and spoke directly to him. "Please explain what you mean Uzumaki-san." She said and Naruto nodded hesitantly.

"When Sasuke died I got so mad about his death that… I just found this hidden power and I was able to find the Hunter-nin as he switched mirrors and I threw him at a mirror that was slightly cracked. Well okay I didn't throw him I smashed his face throw it and he flew out of the ice domes and then I ran at him and was about to finish him off when his mask shattered and I saw a boy I had talked to a few days earlier. He talked about how he would do anything for Zabuza and then he sensed that Zabuza was in trouble and tried to go and aid him only… I grabbed his neck and… I-I slammed him into the bridge breaking his neck and cracking open his skull." Naruto said and became silent.

"I see… so you killed while using Kyubi's chakra?" the woman asked and Naruto immediately came back to attention, completely defiant.

"Hell no!" Naruto almost yelled. "I killed him of my own free will." He said and looked away. "Afterwards I guess I snapped under the emotional shock of losing Sasuke and committing my first kill. I was lost in darkness and then Ino and Sakura were in my mind and Ino healed my mental stability but she said something about a professional mind walker doing it because her job was just a quick path up." Naruto said and a blonde man spoke up.

"Yes, my daughter is only a novice when it comes to such work, with your permission I will enter Naruto's mind and heal him completely Hokage-sama." The blonde man said and the Hokage looked over at him.

"Yes Inoichi, that would be wise indeed." The Hokage stated and looked back at Naruto. "Is there anything else?" he asked.

Naruto nodded and continued. "While the girls were in my mind…we heard a voice call my name and then we felt a warm presence and we walked towards it." As Naruto said this many visibly stiffened and Kakashi's blood ran cold. "We entered a room with a large cage in it and a seal was in the middle of the two cage doors… I took a step closer and while I did some memory tugged at me trying to tell me something. Suddenly a pair of blood red eyes opened up and a large grinning mouth came into view and in a quick motion and turned and launched both girls out of the room and slammed the door…knocking them out of my mind before they could see… the Kyubi no Kitsune." Naruto said and many people relaxed somewhat at hearing that the girls didn't see the giant demon.

"Naruto, are you telling me that my daughter saw the Kyubi?" Inoichi demanded. He didn't send a hateful look at Naruto but instead he feared what his daughter may have seen or felt.

"No… they only saw the eyes and even now they haven't mentioned it. I could easily explain it as being a stray emotion that I have locked away…" Naruto muttered as he remembered his encounter with the Kyubi.

"Naruto did you make contact with the fox?" The Hokage asked worriedly and the blonde boy nodded. "What did he say?" the Hokage asked carefully.

"Not much…he talked about my strengths and weaknesses, the fact that I couldn't even stand up to a fraction of his killing intent and chakra, and he also insulted me for being mortal… and tried to insult the Yondaime but I argued and he blew me out of my mind." Naruto said quietly and the Hokage nodded.

"I'm sorry Naruto that you had to experience what we elder ninja would not want to ever experience again…" the Hokage muttered and Naruto shrugged.

"Whatever…" he said and the Hokage looked at him sadly.

"Kakashi what happened then?" The Hokage asked returning his attention to Kakashi.

Kakashi cleared his throat as he tore his thoughts away from his blonde student. "Well obviously backup arrived and then we were at the client's house, then Gatō attacked with a small army. We were able to fight them and Naruto finally got it together and helped with the Kage Bunshin and finally captured Gatō and turned him over to the citizens of Wave country along with his entire army." Kakashi said finishing the mission report. He stared at The Hokage who was pondering his thoughts carefully.

"So it is your fault Kakashi-san that the last Uchiha is dead?" a random voice from the civilian counsel said. Naruto looked up and found that a man with bandages covering his entire head pretty much had said the words. Kakashi looked at the man and before he could answer Naruto spoke.

"It's my fault. If I was stronger Sasuke wouldn't have died." Naruto said and many council members looked at the boy who was stepping up to the plate. "Don't insult Kakashi-sensei, he tried to go back to Konoha and he let me and Sasuke continue the mission. When Sasuke died he was fighting a Jōnin and couldn't truly help us…" Naruto muttered and the bandaged man nodded.

"So it's your fault then…Uzumaki for the loss of the powerful Uchiha clan? I fear that Sasuke has not gotten to live life…he didn't even activate his Sharingan." The man muttered and the words finally clicked inside Naruto's mind.

"Wait, Sharingan… what is it?" Naruto asked quickly and Kakashi coughed to get the blonde attention.

"This is the Sharingan." The man said and lifted his head band to reveal a red eye with three black tomoes in the iris. "Why do you ask?" he muttered.

"Sasuke's last words were 'Sharingan!', and before he died his eyes were red and they both had one little black thing in them." Naruto said hurriedly and many council members leaned forward to hear the sudden information. "I don't know why he said that…maybe it's because he realized he activated it and it was the only way to beat the hunter ninja guy…" Naruto mumbled as he trailed off once again lost in thought.

"So you're telling me that…Sasuke awakened his bloodline and it wasn't able to beat the ninja?" another person asked and Naruto nodded.

"I guess so…" he mumbled and then looked at the Hokage. "Jiji… this is getting really…depressing and I already feel guilty enough, do we have to keep talking about this?" Naruto asked and the Hokage looked at him sadly.

"No Naruto, we can close this matter for now. Everyone is dismissed! Sasuke will be buried at the Shinobi graveyard in exactly three hours. Naruto I would like you to report to my office so that I can have Inoichi completely repair your mental health." The Hokage said and Naruto nodded.

The blonde boy turned on his heel and walked out of the room with Kakashi right behind him.

Naruto walked away from the Hokage tower about an hour later holding his head in agony. Inoichi, Ino's father as he had found out, had to completely tear down Ino's work in order to completely fix the mental wound. Naruto had felt a terrible head ache but already that pain was subsiding and he was able to walk again. Kakashi had only made sure he arrived at the Hokage's tower otherwise the man left to go to some unknown place. Naruto sighed as he brought his hand down from his head and stuck it in his pocket and he felt his fingers hit the scroll that held Zabuza's Zanbato. He slowly pulled the scroll out and looked at it and sighed yet again. _I should just sell it… I don't know how to use a sword! _He thought and started walking towards a place that one could sell anything. _Then again, it'd be cool to learn how to fight with one…_ he thought and turned away from the store. _But this thing is fucking huge! _He thought again and started towards the store once more. _Then again I could just go to a ninja shop and have it melted down and rebuilt into…a different…sword! _Naruto thought victoriously as he set off to one of the only Blacksmiths in town.

He had gone to the store in the past but had always been ripped off on stuff so he figured now wouldn't be any different but with the hefty sum of money he got from the mission he figured he should be able to pay for the sword. He walked towards the smithy which was only a few blocks away thankfully and as he walked he thought of several different swords he could ask to be made. _It doesn't even have to be a sword! It could be a dozen super cool kunai…wait that's lame. I could have them make me a mace, or a lance, and a spear, or a fucking suit of armor! _Naruto thought mischievously as he walked. The black smith was in sight and he finally settled on a sword and he figured he could draw one when entered the store.

He pushed the door open as he stepped in front of it and he walked into the store which was somewhat warm compared to the chilly outside weather. Naruto looked around and found that no one was in the main area so he walked up to the counter and smacked his hand on the wooden surface.

"Hey! Anyone here?" he yelled and received no reply. He waited for a few seconds before sighing. "I'm getting pissed here!" he yelled again and received a muffled yelled and then the sound of footsteps trudging towards him. He watched as a door that was behind the counter opened up and a man that was slightly taller than him and fat stepped out. The man took one look at him and sneered in disgust.

"What do you want you fucking punk!" he almost yelled.

"I want you to melt this hunk of shit down and make me a sword!" Naruto replied angrily. The fat man took one look at Naruto and spit at him.

"Fuck you! You rotten scum!" the man said and slammed his fist on the table. "If I served you then my business would look like a charity case! I've sold you shitty shit in the past but NO MORE!" he yelled and pointed at the door. "Get out!" he screamed and Naruto stared at him blankly for a second before stepping forward so that he was slightly leaning over the counter

"You don't know what I've been through today… I have watched a team mate die. I have killed someone in cold blood. I have killed another man in cold blood. I have met the Kyubi no Kitsune... Don't think I'm not afraid to come over there and rip you're fucking spine out and strangle you with it you fat fucking whale!" Naruto yelled as he slammed his fist down on the wooden counter, making a small spider web of cracks run through it.

"Y-you wouldn't dare to touch me!" the man said threateningly but Naruto chuckled.

"You're right… I wouldn't." the blonde boy said as he looked down. The fat man seemed to think that he had won against the boy so he stared at him in impatient satisfaction. "I wouldn't touch you but my kunai would…" Naruto said as he looked up at the man with pure evil in his eyes.

"G-get out you…f-fucking demon!" the fat man stammered as he nervously stepped backwards.

"Remember this day because when you may need help… I'm going to make sure you pay you fat fucking waste of space and human skin!" Naruto said as he turned and walked out of the door. He slammed the door shut and was rewarded with the sound of the wood cracking and splintering from the force. Naruto walked away from the shop with an angry look etched on his face. Even though he didn't say it he knew that the smithy behind him was one of the best in Konoha.

Naruto walked angrily and began to mutter to himself not really paying attention to where he was going anymore. He muttered about the fat man at the shop and then he cursed the giant sword he had to carry around now. Naruto clenched the scroll tightly in his hand as he let another stream of curses roll off his tongue. He was just about to start a new rant when suddenly he felt himself slam into someone else and then he found his own limbs tangled in with another's.

"What the hell!" he yelled as he looked up and found that he and a girl were tangled up.

"Watch where you're going you jerk!" the girl yelled as she began picking up what she dropped on the ground. Naruto sighed and crawled over and started helping her. When he looked down he found that she had dropped a bunch of metal and broken weapons onto the ground. He picked up half of a kunai and cocked his head at it.

"Why the hell do you have all this?" he asked and the girl snorted and continued to grab everything before replying.

"Because-"she said and snatched the broken kunai away from him. "My dad melts down old metal to make new weapons. This is my chores and my passion and I get paid for it so either help me or get away." She said and Naruto stared at her.

"Wait so is your dad a black smith?" he asked and the girl nodded as she kept picking stuff up. Naruto grinned and began to help her with more enthusiasm.

Soon the two had everything pick up and the girl had her arms full while Naruto himself had a good portion of metal in his hands. The girl looked at him curiously but shrugged, he was helping her so why should she care. She started walking towards her family store and the blonde followed.

"So what's your name?" he asked finally breaking the silence. The girl turned her head slightly and looked at him curiously.

"Tenten; how about you?" she asked and Naruto smiled slightly at her.

"Naruto… so your dad, he's good right?" Naruto asked and Tenten raised an eyebrow at him.

"Good at what?" she asked and Naruto sighed. He looked at the girl and realized that she was dead serious.

"He is good at making weapons right?" he asked and Tenten giggled.

"Oh! Yeah, he's the best…" Tenten muttered and Naruto nodded.

"Better then that fat ass mother fucker way over there?" Naruto asked and nodded his head in the direction of the shop he just left.

Tenten turned her head and saw which way he was talking about and she snorted and almost dropped her weapons. "Hell yeah! That guy over there sucks at forging weapons!" she exclaimed and Naruto chuckled.

"So would your dad be up for a challenge then?" Naruto asked and Tenten stared at him.

"Um sure I guess? What is it?" she asked curiously and Naruto grinned.

"DAD!" Tenten screamed as she threw the weapons in a pile and ran into the back room of the store to find her father. Naruto stared at her retreating back before he dropped his load of weapons where she had put hers and then he took the time to look at the weapons that were on display. He ran his hand over the surface of a giant mace and admired the craftsmanship of the weapon and before he could try and heft it a man came stumbling out of the back being pushed by Tenten.

"Err, hello?" Naruto said nervously and the man wiped his hands off on his apron.

"Hi, my daughter tells me that you want a sword made…" the man said and Naruto nodded.

"Yeah but not just any sword, you see my team…" Naruto said and he felt a pang of sadness. "We just finished a mission and as a reward I got this guy's sword. But it's too big for me and I can't use it so I want it slimmed down some so I can use it." Naruto explained and the man nodded.

"If I may ask… who was this man you got the sword from?" Tenten's father asked curiously and Naruto shrugged.

"Oh you know, Momoichi Zabuza." He said casually as he pulled out a scroll. "It's in here…damn boulder…" he muttered. He looked at the scroll and looked up to continue talking but he found that both Tenten and her father were laying on the ground, bowing to him.

"Please, let me work with your weapon!" The man begged and Tenten was right behind him.

"Let me touch such a work of art!" she asked with tears in her eyes.

Naruto stared at them both awkwardly and shrugged. "Ok…sure?" he said and the man got to his feet.

"Thank-you son, please come into my back room and we can look at this sword." The man said and began to walk away with Tenten and Naruto following him. He opened a door and Naruto followed him in and after they walked down a hall they entered a large Dojō and Naruto stared with awe. On the walls were tons of different weapons and in a corner of the room was a smelting station with an anvil. In the middle of the room was a large training arena and Naruto was tempted to ask to use it.

"Okay so just unseal it here." The man said and Naruto nodded and dropped the scroll on to the ground. He made a ram seal and shouted.

"**Fuin Kai!"**

A large cloud of smoke appeared and covered the scroll and when it finally faded Zabuza's Zanbato was lying on the ground for all three people to see. Naruto glared at it because it brought back memories of what happened earlier that day while Tenten and her father raped the metal with their eyes. Tenten's father knelt down and ran a finger along the surface and muttered to himself as he let his gaze search the entire sword.

"The Seven Swordsmen of the Mist all have a unique sword. Momoichi Zabuza's sword was made from a type of metal so strong that nothing could chip, crack, or break it. The only way to melt this sword down would be to let it sit in intense heats for days and then I could work with it…" the man muttered and Naruto sighed.

"Fine by me, it's not like I can even use a sword yet anyways." He said and Tenten gasped at the sudden admission.

"You can't use kenjutsu?" she asked with a horrified look upon her face. "How did you plan to use this sword if you didn't know?" she asked and Naruto shrugged.

"I planned on learning." He said and she shook her head.

"Do you even know what style you want to use? Do you know what kind of grip you want? Do you have any idea how long you want your sword to be?" she asked a million questions and Naruto stared at her.

"Ummmmm no?" he asked and Tenten glared.

"Come here!" she ordered and marched over to a wall while her father continued to observe the Zanbato. Tenten grabbed a hunk of metal from the wall and threw it at Naruto. Naruto reached out and caught it out of reflexes and stared at it then Tenten.

"What's this for?" he asked and she snorted.

"I want you to hold it as you feel comfortable." She said and Naruto shrugged. He let the metal rod touch the ground slightly as he moved it to his right hand and held the end of it. He looked up at Tenten who was nodding. "Okay now I want you to act like your fighting people, I know you don't know how to use a sword but still I want you to try." She said and Naruto nodded and started to fake fight people. He found that he would swing his metal rod down and then, on some reflex, he would bring his left hand around as though the sword were in that hand also. After awhile he stopped and he realized that he was sweating slightly and he was also panting. "Okay so from the looks of it you would fight with a grip of one hand but from watching you fight, even though it was sloppy and HORRIBLE, I think you would do better with two swords that are a little long but not too long." Tenten said and Naruto stared at her.

"How'd you know that?" he asked and she grinned.

"I guess you can say it's my families Bloodline limit, even though it isn't really. We can tell about a persons kenjutsu style and needs just by watching them." She said and Naruto nodded. She turned away from him and walked over to her father who was running his hands over the surface of the blade. Naruto walked over and found Tenten whispering to him and when she finished he looked up at Naruto.

"So, I am going to make you two swords…do you have any requests?" he asked and Naruto shrugged his shoulders and stuck his hands in his pockets.

"Do whatever you think would be best for me." He said and the man nodded.

"Okay well looking at the amount of material I have I can say this much… even after I make the swords I am going to have a lot of left over. Do you want me to make sheaths for the swords?" the man asked and Naruto nodded. "Okay well even with doing that I can tell you that I am going to have a lot of left over metal…do you want me to make anything else with it?" He asked and Naruto closed his eyes and thought for a bit.

"Yes… can you make me two plates for gloves? I want them to be circular and I want this design on them." Naruto said and turned around and pointed to the red spiral on his back. "But also I want three tomoes in it, just like a Sharingan…" Naruto muttered and the man nodded. "Then I want two short swords made along with sheaths with them… they are for my friend." He said and Tenten looked at him.

"How do you know she would be able to sue them?" she asked and Naruto shrugged.

"I don't know…I just feel like she could." Naruto said and tapped his forehead trying to remember something. "Oh yeah, I want you to make a small token please… I want the spiral that is on my back and inside that, right in the center, I want a cherry blossom. In the cherry blossom I want three tomoes also. Just a thought…can you change the color of the metal?" he asked and the man thought for a second.

"I don't see why not…" he mumbled and Naruto nodded.

"Can you make the spiral red in both pieces, the cherry blossom pink, and the tomoes black in both cases also? On the short swords I want… I want them to be special." Naruto said and Tenten sighed as the blonde kept going on and on.

"What are you trying to do, make a memento or something?" she asked and Naruto looked away.

"Yeah…actually I am… my team mate just died today…" Naruto whispered and Tenten covered her mouth in regret.

"I'm so sorry…" she muttered and Naruto shook his head.

"It's fine, just… please on the short swords can you etch a pattern into the blade?" he asked and the man looked at him before nodding. "Cherry blossoms on both blades please?" he asked and the man nodded again.

"Okay so after all of that stuff I think I will have only used about 3/5 of the sword. Is there anything else?" Tenten's father asked and Naruto shook his head. Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet.

"No, after your done making that weapons you can keep the remaining metal… take it as a thanks." Naruto said as he started counting out a bunch of money.

"K-kid stop!" Tenten's father stuttered. "No charge! If we can have the spare metal… this stuff costs a fortune!" Tenten's father exclaimed and Naruto shrugged.

"Thanks…how long do you think it'll take?" he asked and the man scratched his head.

"About a month for it all." He said and Naruto nodded, he had expected as much.

"Okay, I'll see you in a month, thanks!" he said and jogged out of the room leaving Tenten and her father to stare at his retreating back. As soon as they heard the store door close they turned back to the Zanbato in front of them.

"Dad… I can't believe he is going to let us have the left over's." She muttered and her father nodded.

"Yeah…I'm going to make that kid my best work yet." He said and bent over and with amazing strength picked the sword up and walked over to his working station. "Tenten, you are in charge of the shop for the next month." He said and began his own mission.

The setting that Sasuke Uchiha was buried in was perfect for the occasion. The sky seemed to swell up sadly and turn grey and it was now crying small tears drops of rain that splashed down onto the ground. Sasuke was buried in the Shinobi graveyard in the area that the others from his clan were buried. It would be the final Uchiha body to be buried in the sad, miserable area only this burial was worse than the others. Even though most of the Uchiha's that were buried in the cemetery on the same night, the Uchiha Massacre, and a certain amount of grief was spared for the loss of an entire clan; Sasuke's burial was five times as bad. It was bad because he left behind his team mates and friends but what made it so horrible was that, he was the LAST Uchiha. Now that he was dead there would be no more Sharingan within the village of Konoha, or in any of the 5 Great Nations. Of course, Naruto knew better than that. There was two more people with a Sharingan; Kakashi but his wasn't exactly inherited but more…given. The other was Sasuke's brother Uchiha Itachi but Naruto would kill him eventually and then the bloodline would be gone for good.

These were the thoughts of a single blonde teenager as he watched the wooden casket of his team mate slowly being lowered into a hole that was freshly dug. On the lid of the casket was the Kanji for fire and under it was a small saying. Naruto let his eyes slowly take in the words that the black ink spelt out. "Gone but never forgotten." Basic words since no one truly knew Sasuke Uchiha, no one could think of a better saying to put on the basket. Naruto shook his head and looked to his side where Sakura was yet again crying and more members of the rookie 9, no rookie 8 were standing sadly.

Naruto heard the dull thud of Sasuke's casket hitting the cold unforgiving ground and it reminded him of a door being shut for good. This was it, Sasuke was done. Naruto wiped a tear away from his eye and pushed his right hand into his pocket where Sasuke's Hitai-ate was. He pulled it out and stepped forward towards the hole, everything seemed to become quiet as he got closer to the hole. Finally he stood before it, he stood before his path of choice and faith. Naruto held the Hitai-ate in his right hand while with his left he pulled a kunai out of his back pocket and switched it over to his right hand along with the Hitai-ate. Everyone watched as Naruto held his hand up and brought the kunai up to it. He closed his eyes and dug the kunai deep into his skin, feeling the cold metal slowly slide through his flesh, followed by warm ruby red blood.

Naruto dropped the kunai and it fell into the hole landing on the top of the casket with a clank. Naruto turned towards the shocked crowd and held his bleeding palm out and id the same with Sasuke's Hitai-ate. "From this day on… I will train and I will do what he couldn't. I will become strong enough to protect everyone precious to me no matter what and never again will I hold a dying friend within my arms. I will never give up, I will never give in, and never will I change my ways. I swear it on my blood and on Uchiha Sasuke's grave." After Naruto spoke these words he brought his bloody palm down across the Hitai-ate dying it a glossy red and when he pulled it away he turned around, held it up and let it fall into the hole. He closed his eyes as it began to rain harder, washing the blood from his hand that was slowly stitching itself back together. The Hitai-ate seemed to fall in slow motion and when it hit the casket it bounced up and twirled, the bloody Konoha symbol flashed and then in the metallic red the reflection of Naruto was seen slowly until it twirled again and then the reflection of Naruto with Sasuke standing next to him was seen.

_I'll keep my promise… I will become an Avenger!_

**Author's Notes: Merry Christmas! Here is my present to all of you and I hope you enjoy it! I worked hard on this baby, putting details into it, but as you can see I didn't really put much effort into Sasuke's burial. I made this chapter and have been working on it periodically but then I got to the second paragraph and I just had no motivation to write the remaining 2. You may think this is a lame present but if you have any of my stories on your alert or favorite list you may want to check up on them because I just might have updated them since I've updated about 5 stories (That's the total amount as I write this author's note). Ja ne!**


	5. Chapter 5: The New Rookie 9

Naruto dropped the kunai and it fell into the hole landing on the top of the casket with a clank. Naruto turned towards the shocked crowd and held his bleeding palm out and id the same with Sasuke's Hitai-ate. "From this day on… I will train and I will do what he couldn't. I will become strong enough to protect everyone precious to me no matter what and never again will I hold a dying friend within my arms. I will never give up, I will never give in, and never will I change my ways. I swear it on my blood and on Uchiha Sasuke's grave." After Naruto spoke these words he brought his bloody palm down across the Hitai-ate dying it a glossy red and when he pulled it away he turned around, held it up and let it fall into the hole. He closed his eyes as it began to rain harder, washing the blood from his hand that was slowly stitching itself back together. The Hitai-ate seemed to fall in slow motion and when it hit the casket it bounced up and twirled, the bloody Konoha symbol flashed and then in the metallic red the reflection of Naruto was seen slowly until it twirled again and then the reflection of Naruto with Sasuke standing next to him was seen.

_I'll keep my promise… I will become an Avenger!_

Chapter 4: The New Rookie 9

The Hokage sat at his desk, his hands clasped together; resting on the hard wooden surface. He didn't wear the traditional Hokage's hat; the article was lying against his back, held around his neck by a thin string. His eyes were traveling over the person standing in front of him. They were slightly unnerved, having never had the chance to meet with the leader of their village 1-on-1 before. Standing next to the old Hokage was the silver haired Jōnin Kakashi, his single eye also looking over the person. This was going to be his new possible student; this person was getting a chance rarely seen.

"As you might know, Uchiha Sasuke was killed on his last mission." The Hokage said solemnly and watched as the person in front of him stiffened slightly, taking in a sharp breath. The old man mentally kicked himself for what he was doing but he had no other real choice, no other appealing choice. _She had the highest ranking of all the other graduates._ The old man reminded himself mentally before he continued to address the girl. "This has left an open position within Team 7's roster. Kakashi and I are giving you the chance to fill this hole, are you interested?" The Hokage asked the girl standing in front of him, watched as she began to open her mouth but Kakashi cut her off.

"If you accept just know one thing, you will have to work hard to catch up with my other students. You will have to work even harder to earn their trust and that is the most important thing for us right now, we need you guys to be able to function as a team, a single fluid weapon to protect the village. Are you up to the task?" The silver haired Jōnin asked and the girl's eyes flickered over to him briefly before they moved back to the Hokage. She bowed lowly; a nervous look dominated her face.

"Hai Hokage-sama. I accept and I hope to make you and my team mates proud Kakashi…sensei." The girl said as she stood up straight and looked Kakashi straight in the eye. The silver haired man nodded slowly before he closed his single eye and raised his hand in a farewell.

"Go meet your new team at training ground 43." Kakashi said before he disappeared in a small whirlwind of leaves that slowly ruffled the Hokage's robes while making the girls hair blow backwards softly.

Naruto and Sakura lay side by side, a few inches between them, on the soft grass of training ground 7. They had their arms beneath their heads have makeshift pillows; their eyes looked up at the blue sky, the clouds slowly floating by. They had been lying there for a few hours, Kakashi had told then that he had an important meeting to attend to. Both were watching the clouds but were also having thoughts on their own private matters. Naruto's face was set in a serious yet confused state; he was trying to figure out some hidden mystery. Sakura's own face looked as though someone had painted worry and fear all over it. _What's going to happen? I don't want to quit being a ninja! But, our team is broken… I don't want to be placed somewhere else, I need Naruto and Kakashi. I can't abandon them…_

_What did you mean with your last words Sasuke? Kill your brother; I got that, but Sharingan? You had it, were you trying to let me know that you got it? That you achieved some goal? _Naruto thought within his mind as he let out a frustrated sigh. Sakura, snapped out of her own thoughts, looked over at her agitated team mate. He was glaring at the sky, thinking about something that only he would dwell upon.

"Naruto, what is it?" the pink haired girl asked in a soft voice. She had become soft spoken, a bit shy, after Sasuke's burial a week prior. Naruto liked the new personality change but he sometimes missed the old Sakura, the girl who yelled and showed her freakishly tremendous strength in the form of hitting people. He sometimes missed the girl he used to have a huge crush on, but he was okay with this new one for now.

"That basterd…" Naruto grunted as he let his own head roll over, his blue eyes meeting her emerald eyes, boring deep into them. "I need to know what he meant by 'Sharingan!'" Naruto said as he shifted his weight and rolled over onto his side so he was facing Sakura completely. He held his head up with his right hand while he laid his left arm down in front of him, picking at the grass unconsciously while he continued to ponder his thoughts, his blue eyes still locked on Sakura's own.

"It's not worth putting yourself through the pain Naruto, move on… at least try to. If we keep talking about Sasuke like this then…then we will never get over it." She muttered as she brought a hand from beneath her head and wiped her eye, trying to push away the fatigue that had been nagging at her from just cloud watching.

Naruto looked at his pink haired team mate and chuckled softly as he held up the grass he had been picking at. He had braided it together, a common habit he found himself in when he played with grass. "Sakura, don't worry about my feelings… I've been reading…"

"Reading?" Sakura asked with a surprised and playful tone. She looked at Naruto with a raised eyebrow and the blonde boy stuck his tongue out at her playfully while letting his blue eyes briefly flash with amusement.

"Yeah, reading! Anyways… I was reading about depression and loss and all that stuff, nothing to hard…" Naruto said as he shrugged his left shoulder while throwing the braided grass into the air where a sudden gust picked it up and carried it a few feet away before it hit the ground again.

Sakura felt her interest peak and she rolled over so she was on her stomach and from there she pushed herself up onto her knees, her hands on her thighs as she stared at Naruto. "Yeah, and what did you read about it?" she asked and the boy rolled his eyes and snorted.

"Well I was reading about losing loved ones and that stuff, I figured it was related to us, and I guess there are a few stages of it. First disbelief, we went through that already, we still kind of are and I guess we will be for awhile. Then we have anger, I'm not sure just how much you've felt but I know that I've gotten angry at myself a lot…" Naruto trailed off but continued on before Sakura could interrupt and try to cheer him up. "I'm starting to come to terms with things but I think that I'm still stuck in the stage the book really focused on… blame. I don't get angry with myself anymore, I find myself getting angry at others sometimes when I think about it. I get mad at Sasuke since he didn't have to needlessly throw himself in front of me. I get mad at Kakashi for making us fight such a strong enemy and not giving us better training. I blamed you…" Naruto whispered the final part and Sakura winced, her heart ached for a second but she realized that Naruto was telling her the truth and she accepted the feelings that he couldn't help at the time.

"After blame comes acceptance but the book says that one will never truly accept the death of someone close right away." Naruto said with a small smirk and that small smirk turned into a chuckle. "I keep expecting Sasuke to just walk across the field, brooding you know?" he muttered and Sakura nodded.

"Yeah, it's weird waking up knowing that he is…gone, but somehow your mind tricks you into thinking it isn't real and you almost believe it. But it hurts when you realize that it's your subconscious trying to change reality…" Sakura said her head tilted up so that she could look at the clouds; her words carried off by the wind but not before they touched Naruto's ears.

"Sakura…" Naruto muttered as he looked at the girl again, her emerald eyes were focused on the sky.

"Yeah?" she asked and Naruto slowly pulled himself up so he was sitting in a position akin to his team mates, but slowly dragged himself forward so that he was sitting next to her, both of them facing them same way.

"Do you-"he began but was cut off by a voice shouting at them from the distance.

"Hey! Are you guys Team 7?" a female voice yelled and Naruto felt his eyebrow twitch as he was interrupted by someone when he was about to ask Sakura a question. Both teens kept staring at the sky, hearing the sound of running footsteps drawing closer and closer, the sound of grass being crushed as the person ran towards them.

"Hey!" the voice sounded right behind them, causing both teens to start turning around slowly to find out who had intruded on their privacy. "Are you…guys…" the voice trailed off as all three sets of eyes made contact.

"No fucking way…" Naruto muttered as his eyes bored into the pair of deep green eyes of the girl standing before him.

"Why are you here?" Sakura almost shouted, her old personality breaking through for a second before she reined it in. "Why are you here, why are you talking to us?" she grumbled with anger and disbelief in her voice. She hadn't seen much less talked to the girl in a few months, about 5 if she remembered correctly.

"Billboard Brow? Dobe?" the girl whispered in disbelief, her eyes widening as she took in their features. _Same as they looked back then!_ "You're the team that Sasuke was on?" she muttered angrily, her voice starting to raise a few notches in volume. "No wonder he died!" she bellowed as she pointed accusingly at Sakura. "I bet it was you and that damn forehead! He had to protect your sorry ass-"

"Shut up." Naruto hissed; a kunai out and held steady at the girl's throat. The girl shuddered as she felt the cold metal pressing against the naked skin of her throat, and she knew that if it was moved a centimeter in any direction she would be raining blood down upon the ground.

Sakura stood staring at her team mate and the girl in utter shock. She had felt Naruto move, she had seen his body as it blurred forward but she didn't expect for him to stand up for her like that! An eerie silence filled the training ground as no one moved; Naruto stood with his right arm stretched out, the kunai held in a reverse grip against the girl's throat, his left hand curled into a fist by his left hip, his feet planted slightly apart. Sakura was kneeling on the ground, her hands in her lap, her mouth slightly agape due to the sudden actions. The girl stood stock still, her arms at her sides, her feet slightly spread apart, her body slightly shaking as she looked into the eyes of Uzumaki Naruto, the normally cheerful eyes will blue irises were horrifying as now the blue had gone from sky blue, to crimson blood red (No slits).

As they all remained in those same positions, all of their breaths coming in deep intakes, a sudden whirlwind caught their attention but none of them moved. Kakashi appeared between Naruto and Sakura, his hands in his pockets. "I see you have met your new team mate already…" he muttered. "Say hi, Aoizora Ami."

"Good luck Kakashi." The Hokage let the words slowly escape his lips as his hands slowly retracted from his crystal ball that he watched over Konoha with. He had watched the entire scene that had played out between the newly formed team, the tension that had been between all three students back in the academy was the same as it was now. _I'm getting to old for this job…_ The Hokage thought wearily as he rubbed his temples.

"Kakashi-sensei… what is _she _doing here?" Naruto said with distaste in his voice, his eyes were still leveled on the girl standing in front of him, though his red irises slowly faded back to their beautiful ocean blue. He slowly pull his kunai away which caused Ami to stumble back a few feet, her eyes still open wide from shock. The blonde slowly backed up until he was standing next to Sakura, who was still kneeling and staring at Ami with mixed feelings.

"Like I said, Ami has been chosen to replace Sasuke on our team." Kakashi said with a small eye smile, trying to lighten the mood. There was silence, a small wind blew throughout the field, rustling the grass and tickling the four ninja's faces as it ran by. Kakashi kept his eye smile on for a few minutes waiting for someone to speak but they all stood their staring at each other. "Well, I'll let you guys bond." Kakashi said and disappeared from the awkward situation in a swirl of leaves. _How awkward was that situation?_ Were the man's thoughts as he disappeared from the Genin's sight.

Naruto's eye flickered over to the area that Kakashi had been standing only moments before, then after seeing the man had really left his eyes slowly snapped back to the girl before him. His eyes slowly picked her apart, taking in most of her details. She was a bit shorter then himself, only by a few centimeters though. Her purple hair which had always hung down to her neck now stretched down past her shoulder, all of it behind her besides for her bangs which framed her slender face. Her eyes were forest green with gold bursting around her pupils. Naruto's eyes traveled downward then and saw what she was wearing and he mentally scoffed at the clothes.

_A purple skirt and a blue blouse? I don't see any weapons, no protection, nothing… _The blonde thought, lost in his thoughts.

"What are you staring at Dobe?" Ami sneered when she saw him looking her over, most likely checking her out. The purple haired girl put a hand on her hip and blew a stray hair out of her face, her eyes locking onto Naruto's. "I know Sakura is ugly; but that doesn't mean you have to appreciate me." She finished.

"Stills tuck up as ever…" Sakura muttered as she got to her feet and joined Naruto in staring at her. She ignored the insult that the girl had thrown at her, and her action didn't go unnoticed by Ami who furrowed her eyebrows at the lack of reaction that Sakura would have usually shown.

The pink haired girl also noticed Ami's clothes and she shook her head before looking at Naruto, almost reading his thoughts on the matter. _This is our new team mate?_

"Why did Jiji give us…._you?" _Naruto muttered as he locked eyesight with Ami once more. Both were stubborn and neither were willing to look away. The purple haired girl, after a few seconds, scoffed at the question before lowering herself to the ground so that she was sitting, her left leg crossed over her right leg, blocking Naruto and Sakura from seeing up her skirt, not that they were attempting to do such a thing. She placed her arms behind her back and propped herself up and looked at the clouds, a smug look on her face.

"Because, of everyone who failed the _real_ test, I was the strongest of them all. Instead of going through another year at the academy or dropping out I got this chance here so I took it." Ami said, proud of being handpicked by the Hokage himself. She let her gaze wander down to Naruto and then it slowly drifted over to Sakura. "So I take it I'm going to have to take the lead?" she asked with a bored tone.

"Let's get some facts straight bitch!" Sakura hissed, Ami's attitude wearing on her last nerve. She took a step forward and glared at the purple girl who was staring t her in disbelief. "You _failed_ the Genin test. You might have been the strongest of the kids who didn't make it… but _we_ are stronger then _you. We_ know what it means to fight and lose loved ones. Have you ever fought someone besides a fellow student or teacher?" Sakura asked the girl who was still staring at her, no longer in disbelief but in pure shock. "Didn't think so. If anyone is the leader of this team…" Sakura said and placed her hand on her hip, mocking Ami's earlier actions. "It's Naruto."

Naruto was slightly smirking as Sakura tore Ami a new one, no longer afraid to stand up for herself. His smirk dropped though and was replaced by a look of shock and joyfulness when Sakura said that he was the leader of the team. _Sakura-chan…_ "If you think you can lead this team then why don't you spar me?" Naruto challenged and the purple haired girl looked over at him with disgust.

"Why would I waste my time on…you." She demanded and snorted. She flipped her hair so that it was all tossed over her right shoulder, her nose held high in the air defiantly.

Naruto growled and took a few steps forward, grabbing the high and mighty girl by the neck of her blouse and pulling her up so she was standing and staring at him with outrage. "You want to know why?" he snarled ad motioned with his hand, a large sweeping motion that meant to draw attention to the entire training field. "Because this is training ground 7, and do you know who trains here? _Team 7!_ If you don't want to be a part of our team then leave, otherwise it's time to grow up and be the adult that you really are!" Naruto said and let go of Ami's blouse neck, causing her to stumble backwards and fall on her rear.

"You Dobe!" she accused but Naruto shook his head.

"You're wrong Ami. If anyone is the Dobe it's you. Dobe is the name given to the weakest of the graduating class right? Welcome to the Rookie 9, you're the weakest Dobe." Naruto said, his words making Sakura laugh into her left palm. "Let's go grab some ramen Sakura…" Naruto muttered as he cast one final disapproving glance at their new team mate. Sakura nodded and both of them walked from the field, leaving Ami to stare at their backs in anger, her fists clenched into the grass, grass and dirt squished inside them.

"I can't believe this!" Naruto grumbled as he waited for his ramen. Sakura sat beside him, also waiting for her own order of the food. She looked over at the blonde and sighed, a release of breath that would make Shikamaru's own sighs seem like yawns. Naruto clenched his fists in anger and slammed them on the counter. "We ask Jiji for a new team mate and he gives us _Ami!_ It wouldn't be so bad if she wasn't so stuck up!" He cried in outrage, his blue eyes turned to Sakura who was staring at him with interest.

"So you'd be willing to accept her if she toned it down and got off her high horse?" Sakura asked curiously and Naruto shrugged as he thought about the question.

"I don't know… she always made my life hell at the academy and I can see her blaming us for Sasuke's death, her eyes were screaming it!" Naruto said and Sakura nodded slowly.

"Naruto, there are a lot of people who blame us…call us weak for not protecting him. Just remember, it isn't our fault." She said just as the bowls of ramen were set down in front of them by Ayame.

"Here you guys go; two bowls of Miso ramen!" Ayame said with a bright smile. She watched as Naruto begrudgingly broke apart his chopsticks and with a weak 'Itadakimasu!' began to slowly eat the noodles. Ayame noticed his mood and looked over at Sakura who was also eating her noodles slowly as though the pink haired girl was delving herself into some deep thoughts. "Hey Naruto-kun… what's wrong?" she asked as she leaned on the counter, her arms supporting her and her hands clasped together.

Naruto looked up from his ramen, a noodle hanging down from his mouth and across his chin. He quickly sucked it into his hungrily waiting mouth and shrugged his shoulders but then thought twice about it and opened his mouth to speak. "You know how Sasuke died right?" Nod. "Well Jiji gave us a new team mate!" he cried with fake enthusiasm.

Ayame smiled brightly and closed her eyes. "That's great!" she cheered but Naruto snorted which made her open her eyes, a questioning look befell her soft and beautiful face.

"To bad our new team mate is our oldest tormentor. Already she thinks she is on control… she insults us already and has called us weak even though she is the one who failed the Genin test." Naruto grumbled and Ayame sighed before reaching out with her right hand and scuffling Naruto's hair affectionately.

"Why don't you just tell her what it means to be a ninja? Maybe you should explain what the true purpose of the test was and why she failed it." Ayame said, offering her own advice. She chuckled as Naruto looked at her curiously, his blue eyes trying to figure something out.

"That's a great idea Ayame-chan… but how did you know there was a true purpose behind the test?" he asked and Ayame blushed slightly, a small redness running from under the corner of her left eye, over her nose, to the corner of her right eye.

"I was a Chūnin! I told you that already, sheesh how'd you forget?" she mumbled at the boy's apparent lack of knowledge remembrance. Naruto stared at her before shrugging.

"I don't know I just got sued to you being the cute girl at the ramen stand I guess." He said as he dug into his noodles, not noticing the blush that appeared on Ayame's face again, only a shade of deeper red at the compliment. "Why'd you quit again?" Naruto asked with a mouthful of noodles. He brought his eyes up to look at Ayame questioningly and she chuckled.

"Old man needed help here…plus I injured my leg on a mission. It's taken awhile to heal so I just retired and decided to help my father out here." Ayame mused and tapped her chin lightly and looked towards the roof. "Though I have considered becoming a ninja yet again." She mumbled and Naruto quickly shook his head, a noodle flying from his mouth and smacking Ayame in the face.

The girl picked it off and flicked it onto the ground before chuckling at Naruto's dismissal of the idea. "Why not Naruto-kun?" she asked and the blonde muttered in an almost sad tone.

"You were one of my very first friends… I don't want to you to get hurt or worse…die." The blonde said and Ayame let a sad smile cross her face. She brought a hand up and rested it on Naruto's cheek, cupping the boy's warm flesh in her soft hands. She tilted his face up to meet hers and she leaned forward, kissing him on the forehead. The blonde blushed bright red, Sakura also did to as she saw the Ramen girl's actions.

"Naruto, you can't protect everyone…" she whispered sadly and Naruto chuckled softly and stood to his feet, his bowl of ramen empty. He looked at Sakura and smiled at her and waved then turned to Ayame and did the same.

"Thanks for the ramen Ayame-chan I'll see you tomorrow Sakura-chan! I have some business to take care of." He said and turned to leave, his hand pushing the flap out of his face but before he left the stand he turned, his blue eyes suddenly serious and locked on Ayame's own chocolate brown ones.

"That's the thing though Ayame. I may not be able to… but I_ will._" He left leaving a stunned Ayame and a smiling Sakura who was finishing the last of her own noodles.

"Funny thing is… he's telling the truth. Naruto won't go back on his word." Sakura whispered as she looked at her reflection in the broth of her ramen. A smile had graced her lips as her team mates final words echoed in her ears still, only seconds after he had left.

_Now to find_- Naruto was thinking within his mind as he exited the ramen stand, only to collide with someone. Conveniently that someone was the person he was just going to find and talk to. "Ami! What are you doing here?" he asked and the girl flushed a little as she realized she had almost been caught trying to find her team mates.

"N-nothing! I was just walking by…" she muttered and went to walk around the blonde but he held an arm up blocking her way.

"Hey Ami… can I talk to you?" he asked and she looked at him curiously and nodded. "Follow me." He said as they began walking towards the training field once again.

"Man, I'm so hungry!" Naruto whined as he kicked his legs only it was to no use. His stomach growled loudly and his face showed pure agony as his team mates ate their lunch next to him slowly. "Why'd Kakashi-sensei have to tie me to the log!" he pouted and closed his eyes. "Man-" He was interrupted suddenly when Sasuke pushed his food into his face, the boy was looking at the ground, his eyes closed, his left hand held out.

"Here, eat. I don't sense Kakashi nearby and you need the energy if we are going to beat him and get those bells." Sasuke muttered and Naruto stared at him in shock.

"Sasuke…" Naruto whispered in disbelief.

"No… Naruto, eat mine. I'm used to not eating much and since you and Sasuke are stronger you will need more energy." Sakura said as she bowed her head and offered her food with both hands held up. Naruto averted his gaze from the Uchiha to his crush.

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto muttered and the girl sat there waiting for the boy to take the food. "I'm tied up." He said and Sakura looked up slowly, a look of disbelief on her face.

"Hurry Sakura!" Sasuke said and the pink haired girl growled and looked at the blond.

"Don't get any wrong impressions." She said as she quickly gathered a bite together and held it in front of Naruto's mouth.

"Don't worry Sakura-chan! NUM!" Naruto moaned as he ate the delicious food.

"YOU!" Kakashi suddenly screamed as he appeared out of nowhere. All three students were staring at the Jōnin sensei in fear. "I told you not to feed Naruto and you disobeyed my orders! Are you ready for the consequences?" Kakashi demanded.

"B-but sensei! Y-you said!" Sakura stammered, unable to get the words out.

"You said this exercise was about team work! We are working together here to beat you!" Sasuke said in defiance as he glared at the older man.

"YEAH!" Naruto yelled as he shook in fear.

Kakashi eyed them all angrily. "You…" he growled before smiling. "Pass!" he said happily.

"WHAT!" all three Genin yelled in disbelief.

"Every team before you just listened to what I said and didn't get what it old them! They didn't use team work which means they didn't feed their hungry team mate which would result in their team work being futile since they had a weak link that they could have prevented." Kakashi mused and stood up straight, looking at all of them sternly. "Those who disobey the rules are trash." He said and all three Genin winced. "But those who abandon their friends, their team mates, their comrades…are lower than trash." Kakashi finished and all three students stared at him in shock before all four of the figures disappeared in clouds of smoke.

As the smoke faded it left Naruto and Ami sitting in a tree branch, a few inches of space between them. Neither had spoken a word as Naruto made the clones and henged them into the familiar replica's of his old team and then had them re-enact the entire test that Team 7 had taken. Of course he wasn't able to do all the jutsu but he had made up for it. Now they sat in silence as the voices they had just heard disappeared leaving both of them to their own private thoughts.

Naruto was thinking about how his team had been just a couple weeks ago, and how it was now. Ami was in complete shock, Team 7 had been the only team passed by Hatake Kakashi!

"Do you get it Ami? The reason we passed, the whole _purpose _of that test was to make us use team work." Naruto whispered as a breeze kicked up and blew his hair wildly around his face, the same happened to Ami. "The reason me and Sakura were so angry was because you came here and acted as though you ran the show…" Naruto said and Mai looked over at him.

"So is that why you hate me?" she asked and Naruto shook his head.

"I don't hate you… I have forgiven you for what you did to me just how I forgive everyone who hurts me. I just… I know how _important _team work is! I know how crucial it is for a team to work together and be a family. I know we may fight and bicker…but… we have to work together." Naruto said and brought his own gaze up to meet hers. "I watched one team mate die in front of me because our team didn't work together… I won't go through that again." He said and Ami stared at the blonde in shock.

She looked away as his words sunk in; she finally realized just how her actions had made the two teens mad. It wasn't because she was stuck up; it was because they knew just what would happen. "You used to be so weak back at the academy… you didn't even register on my radar but here you are… a Genin, a team leader, and also explaining how important team work is." She muttered and sighed as she mentally chastised herself.

"Don't stress yourself, the things me and Sakura went through have made us more mature then we were. We were forced to grow up…" Naruto said as he stood to his feet and held out his hand to help Ami up. The purple haired girl looked at his hand nervously for a second before she grabbed it and pulled herself up, brushing the dirt off her skirt.

"I'm sorry…" she said and crossed her arms behind her back. "About how I've always treated you… how I treated you guys earlier." She said and blushed a little bit; making Naruto smile softly.

_I guess I did make sense…she gets how important team mates are now._ "I forgive you like I said, there's just one person you have to apologize to tomorrow." Naruto said and Ami nodded in understanding. "Team?" he asked holding out his hand to her.

"No." she said and looked at him. A look of disbelief crossed his face before she grinned. "Team _mates!_" She said and grabbed his hand, making the blonde grin happily.

"Okay, well… first things first. What you have on… it's not gonna cut it!" Naruto said, his demeanor changing suddenly. "I mean seriously? A skirt and a blouse! You don't have any weapons, no protection…hell you don't even have your _Hitai-ate!_" The blonde shouted gesturing at Ami in disbelief. Ami stared at him with her mouth hanging slightly open.

"Oh! _You_ should talk! What are _you_ wearing! Orange! You're like a traffic cone! If I have to change my style then so do you! If you're the team leader then it's time to make some changes!" Ami shouted gesturing at Naruto's own clothes.

"OH YEAH!" he shouted.

"YEAH!"

_I think they'll be just fine... _Kakashi thought as he listened to the blonde and purple haired girl bicker. They weren't fighting like to people who hated each other, they were arguing like team mates and that was what made Kakashi proud. _You are a true leader Naruto…I'm happy you remembered my teachings._ The One eyed Jōnin sensei thought as he disappeared in a whirl of leaves, leaving the arguing teens to continue on with their friendly fight as they jumped out of the tree and started walking towards town.

"WH-where am I?" a voice asked in a small, confused, afraid, fearful whisper. All around them was darkness, nothing was in sight and they felt cold, felt as though they had been asleep for years and they were now finally awakening. As they looked forward a sudden pair of crimson red eyes opened, followed by a white smile.

_Here's chapter 4! Shorter then my other chapters but oh well. Here we see the maturity of Naruto and also Team 7's new teammate. Aoizora Ami, I didn't know what her last name was so I just gave her a cool one. Her name translates out to mean Beautiful (Ami) Blue sky (Aoizora). I thought about using am O.C, to tell the truth I was going to use Uchiha Aoi, the female cousin of Sasuke and one of the villages biggest kept secrets, but I decided that I'd just be filling the void that Sasuke left with another Uchiha. Sorry for those who would prefer that, even though she wouldn't have had the Sharingan? Anyways… next chapter is when we see Team 7, training. Yes, Kakashi will hold to his word!_


End file.
